Two faced lovers
by Cammie Fujisaki
Summary: Being in love is a wonderful thing, except when it's not mutual. And when Nagihiko ends up as friends with benefits with a girl that most likely hates him... well that's the worst situation of all
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Well, my second story. Hope you like it; I'm super nervous about posting this. Dx Anyway, the M rating is for sexual content, but there will most likely not be any graphic sex. Sorry, but I would most likely fail at really graphic stuff. Oh, and the lines in italics _are_ the breaks. I can't figure out a good break to use so I'm sticking with this for now. Thanks for reading, and I'd love some good constructive criticism :)

"I love you."

Rima froze, her mouth agape and her eyes half open as she stared up at Nagihiko with a dumbstruck expression on her face. He was joking, right? He had to have been. But yet the expression on his face made it as plain as day to Rima that Nagihiko was indeed not joking.

"Wha..." Rima couldn't form words to vocalize her utter disbelief. Nagihiko was confessing to her? Really? There was nobody around except for the two of them so he had to be talking to her.

"I know this may seem sort of sudden, but I've been in love with you for quite a long time, and even though you really hated me at first, I feel like we've been getting closer over the past few years." Well, yeah. But that was just because he was Amu's other best friend, and it would save her a lot of trouble if she acted decent to him. By no means did it mean she actually had feelings for him.

"I... I don't know what to say," Rima muttered, her eyes downcast as she struggled to find a way out of this situation without ruining everything. If she rejected him, their "friendship" would be severely affected, and it might even jeopardize her relationship with Amu. If she lied and said she felt the same, she would have to pretend day after day that she felt something that she didn't.

"Well, what are you feeling? Even if it displeases me, I want to know how you really feel about me," Nagihiko suggested, and it seemed to Rima like he knew exactly what she was thinking in this moment.

"I... I don't love you," Rima simply, biting her lip as she looked to the side. It was true, she didn't love Nagihiko, and never would. It was impossible for her to love someone like that, even though it would make everything so much easier.

"Oh, I see. Well, perhaps you would like to-"

Rima cut Nagihiko off with a small shake of her head. "I have no interest in dating. Going out with boys is completely unappealing to me, so sorry."

"Ah... then that's fine."

Even though Nagihiko said it was okay, Rima knew it wasn't. Even though there was a smile on his face, she could see in his eyes that he was very upset; even his wonderful acting skills couldn't hide that.

"I'm sorry," Rima muttered, and she actually was. She was sorry she had to reject him, and sorry that their relationship would be strained, but she didn't love him, and she never would.

_But yet, she did feel something_

The next day dragged on. Every minute seemed to last an hour, every exchange between Rima and Nagihiko seemed to slow down time. Every time he looked up at met her eyes, it seemed to be a thousands seconds before Nagihiko could bring himself to look away. When their knees bumped under the table, his heart began beating so fast he was sure everyone else could hear it and he would quickly jerk it away, bumping the table in the process.

Tadase seemed to notice that _something_ was up, but he was the only one and seemed to think better than pointing it out. When he met Nagihiko's eyes he gave him a small smile, which was weakly returned. It was like he was urging him to stay strong... but Nagihiko wasn't sure if he could. Maybe it was all those years in a skirt, but he felt like he would cry every time words left Rima's perfect, pink lips.

What could he do? Leaving the classroom to go to the bathroom would only be a temporary escape, and ditching class was something Nagihiko would not even consider. He could move to sit by Fuyuki or some of his other friends, but that was more than a little suspicious, and the last thing he wanted was for anyone to find out what had happened.

Nagihiko sighed as he rested his face in the palm of his hand, thinking about the futility of his situation. Amu looked up at him from across the table. "Nagi, are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah! I'm fine!" Nagihiko insisted, a huge and rather unnatural smile on his face. Rima snorted, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest from her seat cornered to his.

"Now who was the one who told me to say me true feelings? Isn't that a little hypocritical?" she asked sarcastically, giving him a condescending look that Nagihiko definitely didn't expect her to. He wasn't sure if she was mocking his present denial of his emotions, or if she was challenging him about her telling him the truth the day before, or if she was maybe just treating him like she normally would.

"I'm fine, Rima-chan," Nagihiko insisted, his eyes darkening a bit as he glared across the table at her.

"Are you really?" Rima asked, a smirk forming on her face as she stared at him, leaning forward and resting her arms on her lap. Nagihiko knew that she already knew the answer to her question, though, and was sort of surprised at the sadism she was exhibiting to him.

"Why do I feel like I'm missing something?" Amu asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she watched her two best friends have a heated stare-down.

"Rima-chan, I assure you I am fi-" Nagihiko cut himself off as Rima leaned forward slightly and he felt a hand on his knee. Rima rubbed his knee in circular motions, her hand slowly going higher and higher until-

Nagihiko jumped to his feet, his chair shooting out behind him and clattering to the floor with a crash that made the whole class stare at him. His friends' eyes were wide, save for Rima, who had a smug sort of expression on her face.

"Fujisaki-san, is something the matter?" The teacher asked, looking up from her stack of papers with an obviously confused look on her face. Nagihiko's mouth fell open for a moment, before he shook his head.

"No, I just..." Nagihiko froze and bit his lip, staring down at Rima who was biting her lip and staring up at him. What the hell was she doing? It was like she was flirting with him! Like salt in an open wound, doing so was only making him more depressed about what had happened between them. "It's nothing, I'm sorry."

Nagihiko picked his chair up of of the floor and pulled it back to his spot, scooting closer to Tadase than he normally would so that he was further away from Rima. The blonde boy seemed to notice this, and gave Nagihiko a suspicious look but didn't speak; if Nagihiko wasn't going to bring it up, then he wouldn't either.

_And yet..._

_he would later wish he had said something more desperately than he would have ever expected_

If Nagihiko thought that first day was long, it was nothing in comparison to the rest of the week. He wasn't sure if Rima knew what she was doing, but the things she said would have connotations only he could catch. If they would brush each other in the hall, which seemed to be occurring a bit too often, it would seem to last a bit too long, but that may have just been Nagihiko's imagination.

It was getting unbearable; If Nagihiko didn't have more self control he would have snapped. But he couldn't do that, because she was acting more or less like she usually did. If anything, Nagihiko was the one acting awkward. After that first day he was so paranoid that Rima was going to do something weird that he was going out of his way to be apart from her. His friends were noticing his odd behavior, more or less, but none of them seemed to know quite what was going on, and they didn't really suspect that it had anything to do with Rima.

Nagihiko was pretty sure Rima knew why he was acting strange, though. On the rare chances they would make eye-contact, he would almost say that she looked rather apologetic. It was almost as if she hadn't had wanted to hurt him in the first place... But then again, that might have just been because Amu was spending more time with him then usual, in a desperate attempt to cheer him up.

And then, there came a day in which Nagihiko couldn't take it anymore, and he let his desperate little facade slip just a little. When talking about love with his friends (Of course Amu was thinking of her darling long-distance boyfriend Ikuto and Kukai was thinking of Utau) while they were eating lunch together, he expressed his current feelings for said emotion, "Love is just the worst thing ever."

And at once it became clear to the others what was going on: he had been rejected. Nobody knew by who, though, except for Tadase, who just had the vaguest of suspicions lurking in the back of his mind.

"Why do you say that, Nagi?" Amu inquired, her face wearing a quite cute and puzzled look on it. Rima pointedly looked away from the long-haired boy and picked at her food abashedly.

"Well, I mean I suppose its great if it's mutual, but when it's one-sided it's the worst thing in the world," he sighed, resting his head on the palm of his hand, nearly setting his elbow into his lunch. Kukai raised an eyebrow at this, before looking up at him with a sympathetic sort of expression.

"So you were rejected?" Nagihiko nodded slightly in response, causing Amu to give him a sad look.

"I'm sorry Nagi. Who was it?"

Nagihiko couldn't answer that. He couldn't dare tell Amu that her other best friend had rejected him; she would be mad and then Rima would be hurt. And, even though he had been rejected, he still loved her and didn't want to cause her discomfort. "It's nobody you know."

Just for a brief second Nagihiko's eyes flashed across the table, and he and Rima stared at each other before he quickly looked away. He knew she felt guilty, but he didn't want to see it. It would hurt him all the more. And, even though he wouldn't admit it, he still wanted to hang onto some pride; maybe that was the true reason he wouldn't tell anyone what had happened.

The rest of his classes that day seemed to last even longer than usual, especially when every time he glanced over at his right he saw Rima looking at him. He wondered what exactly she was doing, what kind of game she was playing, before realizing that she _pitied _him.

Nagihiko was set to tell her off, to tell her not to feel guilty for her emotions, and maybe ask her to keep away from him a little bit... but Rima got to it first. When the bell rang and everyone began to gather up there stuff, she approached him. "Hey, can I speak to you for a moment?"

Nagihiko froze, his arm hanging in the air stupidly as he held his book above his bag, before regaining his senses and continuing his motion.

"Yeah, what do you want?" he asked, setting his book in his bag the closing it. Rima bit her lip and shuffled her feet, refusing to meet eyes with the taller boy.

"I meant alone," she muttered, most likely knowing full well the implications of what she was saying. Nagihiko did not like this, it would be the first time the two were alone together since he had confessed, but he knew he had to talk to her.

"Oh, sure," Nagihiko replied after a moment's hesitation. He slung his bag over his shoulder and followed Rima as she walked from the classroom after a brief wave towards Amu and Tadase, who watched them walk off curiously.

After walking for a short while, Rima entered an empty classroom and Nagihiko followed her inside. He had no idea what was going on, and as he slid the door shut he got the feeling that this was not going to end well. His mind spun as he thought of what Rima might be about to tell him: she was sorry that she had hurt him, she wanted him to calm down around her, she realized her mistake and really was in love with him... No, Nagihiko wouldn't even let himself dream of that; it would be horrible to get his hopes once again just to get shot down.

"Nagihiko..." Rima said after a long moment of silence, "I have a proposition for you."

"What kind of a proposition?" Nagihiko asked, thoroughly surprised at Rima's words. Rima had a moment's hesitation before answering, almost as if she wasn't sure of what she was saying.

"Well, you're in love with me, and lately you've been acting like a dumb-ass because I don't like you back." Nagihiko winced at how bluntly she spoke, but didn't interrupt. "And in the past few days I realized that although I don't love you or want to date you, I _am_ attracted to you."

"What... where are you going with this?" Nagihiko asked, a glimmer of hope building in his chest.

"I... I think we should become friends with benefits."

Nagihiko's mouth dropped into a large "O" as he stared down at Rima. She had to be kidding. There was no way she meant what she was saying. He waited for the punchline, but after a minute or so he realized it was never going to come. "Are you serious?"

Rima's cheeks took on a hint of pink and she looked away. "Well, yeah. I mean, this way we both get what we want."

What they want? Rima may have been a fan of casual sex, but Nagihiko was definitely the kind that preferred long-term relationships. He loved Rima. He wanted to be her boyfriend, not her fuck buddy! "Rima-chan, I don't-"

Nagihiko stopped talking when Rima stood on her toes and pressed her lips to his. Her arms wound around his neck, she slowly pulled back after just a moment. "What were you saying, Nagihiko?"

And although it was a horribly bad idea and Nagihiko was very aware of this fact, the feeling of Rima's lips on his had killed every ounce of reason he possessed. "Maybe we could give this a try."

Rima would get what she wanted, and Nagihiko would get to be with her more. And he was pretty sure that he would treat her better than the other guys she could ask to have a casual relationship with. As long as Rima was happy, then he would be happy...

_He loved her after all_


	2. Chapter 2

If you had asked Rima, even just a month ago, if she would ever pursue a friends with benefits type of relationship with anyone, much less Nagihiko, she would have laughed and called you a moron. She wasn't partial towards guys, so she didn't want to date, but she did not have any reason to believe that she needed to have sex in the first place.

But it was in the days that followed Nagihiko's confession where her opinion changed.

She became more aware of the boy's presence at that point, and for some reason she constantly found her eyes drifting over towards his face. She didn't know what was happening, but she felt herself drawn to him. No, no matter what Amu or the others would tell her if she dared to ask, she was not in love with him. It wasn't so much of a feeling of like, but something different…. She would feel herself heating up as she stared at him, and thoughts would fill her mind that she hadn't known she was capable of imagining. Her and Nagihiko, doing _this_ and _that_. Hugging, kissing, touching each other… several times her mind had spiraled out of control and she found herself daydreaming about sex as well. Nagihiko and her, doing the deed….

It took a while to place the emotion, but after she did it was unmistakable: lust. What she felt for Nagihiko was purely lust. She didn't love him, she barely even liked him, but she lusted after him.

And Rima wanted him. She wanted all of him. But yet she didn't want to date, didn't want to be tied to another being who she must call a boyfriend. And then it hit her: they could be friends with benefits.

Yes, all of the fun without any of the annoying downfalls of a relationship. Rima's lust could be fulfilled, and maybe Nagihiko would be pleased by this as well. He did claim to love her, right? He would do whatever she wanted, and if she wanted to use his body and nothing else, well then he would let her.

Maybe it was wrong to manipulate him like this, Rima wasn't sure, but he was the one freaking out left and right, he was the one drawing all kinds of weird emotions out of her so that she could barely think straight. It was all his fault… everything was all his fault.

_And if he ended up hurt, well that was his fault too._

Nagihiko wasn't sure what had happened, but he left the vacant classroom he and Rima had been in in a daze. She had called him there, told him she only wanted his body, and then kissed him. Nagihiko, probably too in love for his own good, had agreed and the next thing he knew Rima's mouth was on him again, her tongue pressing against his lips and then dipping in between them. He found himself drawing her body into his as her tongue touched his, his fingers pulling at her hair as she ran her hands through his.

Nagihiko hadn't been thinking; it physically wasn't possible for him to have done so in that moment. All of the thoughts and worries that plagued his mind vanished, and the part of him that always thought out situations well was silenced on the spot. He couldn't think of the consequences of his actions, he couldn't think of what may happen the next day. All he could think of was Rima.

Until she pulled back, her lips red, practically begging Nagihiko to capture them again, and gave him a slight smile. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Ah… okay." Nagihiko didn't really want to separate from her so soon, but also didn't really want to push things much further yet. Yes, he loved Rima, and nothing would satisfy him more than screwing her right there on the teacher's desk, but he knew that she didn't love him. And he didn't want his first time to pass quite like that.

Maybe, he thought, if he held out long enough and spent enough time with her, she would grow to have the same feelings for him that he had for her.

It took Nagihiko at least a minute to realize that he was alone in the classroom and leave it. Figures that Rima would run off after such a thing. She probably didn't want him to ask her to hang out or something.

As he headed down the hall to leave the building, Nagihiko ran into the two people he didn't particularly want to see: Tadase and Amu.

"Hey, Nagi! What did Rima want?" Amu's expression made it plain as day that she suspected nothing.

"She wanted to ask me a question about the homework," Nagihiko lied without skipping a beat, which was a skill he was glad he had mastered over the years he was his female ego.

"Oh, but why did she have to be alone with you?" Amu asked, tilting her head in her confusion as the walked down the hall. Nagihiko was quick to reply.

"She was embarrassed to ask in front of anyone else." It was a perfectly believable statement; Rima didn't try to hide her feelings about Nagihiko, so no one would doubt that she was embarrassed to ask him for help.

"Hey, now that I think about it, you look happier then before," Amu noted, causing Nagihiko's breath to catch in his throat. Oh god, what was the excuse for that?

"You think so?" Nagihiko asked, wearing a skeptical expression. Amu nodded earnestly.

"Yeah. Did the girl you like suddenly have a change of heart?" Nagihiko stumbled over his own feet at this, his heart pounding at top speed.

"Unfortunately, I don't think she has. Besides, I was with Rima-chan the whole time, so I wouldn't know," Nagihiko said quietly. Amu frowned as she moved to push open the doors at then end of the hall and stood there for a moment.

"Yeah, of course. What was I thinking anyway?" Amu furrowed her eyebrows, leaving Nagihiko with the feeling that she might have subconsciously known what was going on after all.

"Well, that's quite a shame," Tadase said, giving his friend a sympathetic smile. Amu finally pushed the door open, and the group walked outside.

Nagihiko was glad he had chosen to bring a scarf, not only because the chilly winter wind was hitting him straight in the face, but he had the feeling that his expression may have ended up giving something away. As he wrapped the fabric around his neck, he replied with a weak grin, "Thanks, but I'll be fine."

"Well, I'd better be heading home! We'll see you tomorrow!" Amu said happily from beneath her coat, her voice coming out a bit muffled. Nagihiko smiled at her.

"Bye!" he said with a small wave, watching as Tadase and Amu reciprocated his gesture and then walked off in the opposite direction from him, quickly picking up into another conversation about something else.

As he watched them go, it suddenly hit Nagihiko right in the face; Tadase had been rejected by Amu ages ago, but he still could hang around her just fine. He didn't freak out every time she looked his way. Maybe Nagihiko could do the same with Rima.

Yes, he would give it his all to act just as he had for the past five years. He would treat her no differently at all.

_maybe it would be easier than he thought._

The next day dragged on a bit too long (not as if the past week hadn't) but it was for a different reason. Nagihiko's mind was spinning with thoughts of Rima and him. What Rima and he had done in the deserted classroom, what they could very possibly be doing later that day… Nagihiko was finally understanding the lovesick feeling.

But that wasn't accurate, he supposed; only he was in love. Rima made it plain as day that she didn't love him at all. But that was alright, right? He could maybe convince her to see the light.

The only problem at the moment for him was that Rima was still acting very distant. Sure, Nagihiko wasn't expecting her to act like they were best friends or anything, but he had figured that he would get more than the normal distant attitude from her. Maybe a greeting or a smile. But no... she ignored him as usual.

That didn't matter though, because Nagihiko was too busy trying to keep his mind on class; if Rima was talking to him or anything else like that he had a feeling he'd completely lose his attention to the lesson. Just because his life was being rapidly heading down a path to disaster didn't mean that he should let his studies fall behind.

As hard as it was to focus on his work, Nagihiko somehow managed to for most of the day. He took the proper notes, did the correct work, and even managed to study his text book when that was what he was to do. He was focused until the end of class, when he felt Rima nudge his leg from underneath the desk. He looked up at her, a small blush growing on his cheeks, to see that her jerk her head towards the desk slightly. He was slightly confused until he noticed that Rima had her arm under the desk and immediately moved his so that it was underneath the table as well.

Rima's hand moved around blindly for a moment before Nagihiko's met her's. He felt something slip into her palm before she pulled back and turned back to her book. Nagihiko held the small scrap of paper in his hand and unfolded it carefully, making sure that nobody else saw it, and read in small, curly handwriting the words, "My mom is getting home late. Come over at five."

Nagihiko's stomach flip-flopped at those words, knowing full well what Rima was implying; there was only one reason she would invite him over when her parents weren't home. She wanted to have sex.

Nagihiko quickly scribbled down underneath her own words in hurried handwriting, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

He reached over and rubbed her knee, causing her to reach down and grab the paper once more. She read it quickly before letting out a quiet scoff, quickly writing two words down after Nagihiko's. She pressed her hand into his, slipping the paper into his palm. As he opened it Rima gave him a confident look and he read, "Of course."

Nagihiko wasn't expecting this to happen so soon, he really wasn't. And although his body wanted this so badly, he wasn't sure if it was right. To do something so serious without being together or thinking it out properly before hand, well that was just reckless. Didn't that go against everything that he had ever learned from his parents and teachers? Wasn't sex supposed to be a sacred thing between two people who loved each other? While Nagihiko truly loved Rima, he knew she didn't feel the same way. Would agreeing to this end up hurting her?

Nagihiko wanted to say no. He wanted to suggest that they wait a while and think things out more, but couldn't bring himself to, because he was honestly scared. At this point, he still had Rima. Maybe not in the way he desired, but he still had her. What if him saying no made her mad, she blew off the whole relationship, and got together with one of her sleazy fanboys? Wasn't it better to be in a relationship like _this_ then be without her and let someone horrible get her instead?

Rima looked up and met his eyes, and it only took Nagihiko half a second to nod in response. He would do it... he would have sex with Rima.

_But, deep down, he knew it wasn't the right decision_

Nagihiko had never been so nervous in his entire life, even when he had to tell Amu that he was Nadeshiko. He just stood outside of the door to Rima's house, hand poised to knock, yet unable to connect it with the door. What was he doing? He couldn't do this! He needed to go home right now! But yet, even though he couldn't bring himself to go inside, he couldn't bring himself to walk away either. As much as he didn't want this, there was an equally sized part that did want this.

Before Nagihiko could make up his mind one way or another, the door had been opened and a scowling face appeared below his. "Are you going to stand there all day?"

"Ah, no," Nagihiko muttered, embarrassed that Rima had caught his moment of hesitation. She held the door open expectantly, and with a now-or-never type of feeling, Nagihiko slowly walked inside, slipping his shoes off at the entrance. Rima walked on ahead of him, and he struggled to keep up, his mind so muddled and his heart beating so sporadically that he was surprised that he could walk straight.

When he finally made it to her room, he walked inside reluctantly, slowly shutting the door behind him. Rima stood before him, a vaguely amused look on her face as she gestured him over to her. Taking small steps, Nagihiko approached her and she reached up and stroked his face. "You're so nervous."

"Ah, a bit..." Nagihiko admitted. Rima moved her hand from her face and placed it on his shoulder in unison with her other one, taking a brief moment before pushing down on them so that Nagihiko fell backwards and was now sitting on her bed.

"That's alright, I'll take care of everything," she murmured lowly into his ear as she sat down on his lap, her legs on either side of his body as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

She leaned forward and met his lips in a kiss, her soft lips slowly moving against his as she pressed her chest up against his, grabbing Nagihiko's hair in her hands as he let out a small moan. As he desperately wrapped his arms around her waist, he found something wet sliding over his lips, and opened his mouth so that his tongue could touch her's. He let Rima take control, enjoying the feeling of her tongue slowly sliding over his before chasing it back into his mouth and licking his teeth. As she kissed him she rolled her hips into his, delighted when Nagihiko let out a groan into her mouth.

When Rima finally ran out of breath she pulled back, a small trail of spit reaching from her lips to his. She could see that Nagihiko was quite overwhelmed in this moment and decided to take that to her advantage as she began to undress him, pulling his shirt from over his head as he worked it off of his arms in a bit of a daze. As soon as the shirt was discarded Rima leaned forward and licked his neck, causing him to moan and squirm a little under her. Getting quite the reaction that she desired, she began to unbutton her own top as she sucked at the base of his neck, not quite worried about the hickey that would surely be there when she was done.

Rima slowly pulled back from Nagihiko as she tossed her shirt aside, leaving him wide-eyed at the sight in front of him. With a devilish smirk, she slowly reached behind herself and unlatched her bra, discarding it before Nagihiko reached up and rubbed her breasts eagerly. She moaned as he did this, her hands pulling his head in towards her neck as she ground her hips into his once more. Beneath her she could feel that Nagihiko was quite turned on, and smirked triumphantly to herself as Nagihiko applied kisses to her neck. She broke away from him after a short while and pushed him down to the bed, so that she was now straddling him.

Slowly, she began to pull down her skirt, but this was where Nagihiko's voice of reason finally came to it's senses and tried to stop it. "Rima-chan, I'm not sure if we should do thi- ah!"

Rima cut Nagihiko off by grabbing his crotch. She smirked at the boy as he moaned beneath her. "But it feels good, right?"

"Ah," Nagihiko couldn't argue with that statement, especially when Rima touched him like that, so instead he brought up another point, "What about protection?"

"I've got it," Rima assured him, taking the opportunity to pull of her skirt and panties in one smooth movement. "Any more objections?"

If she hadn't had done that, maybe Nagihiko could have came up with some sort of a rebuttal, but faced with the sight of Rima's womanhood all he could say was, "Oh god."

"I thought not," Rima smirked, and even though Nagihiko had promised himself that no matter what happened, no matter what took place, they were not going to have sex that day, minutes later he found Rima riding him into oblivion. It felt so very good that Nagihiko couldn't even try to stop it, and even though he knew he would later regret it he had let himself get sucked in.

It certainly said something about their relationship when Rima forced him to leave only minutes after they had finished, so that he was still sweaty and pink-faced, but Nagihiko brushed this off; she probably just didn't want her mother to catch them. As Nagihiko left he felt like even though Rima wasn't in love with him yet, she could fall in love with him soon, and that maybe this wouldn't be such a bad way to court her. Yes, this wouldn't be quite a bad way at all.

_Too soon would he realize just how wrong he was._

A/N: Oh my. That was so embarrassing for me to write. (What am I saying, it's not even all that detailed xD)  
Oh, and sorry I'm like a week late with this chapter. I have good excuses as to why, but won't bore you with the details. ;) The next chapter probably won't be up for another two weeks as I'm going on a long camping trip but I'll try my hardest to finish it soon. Thank you so much for reading! And if you see any errors, don't hesitate to point them out- I wrote this with a really bad cold and can't think straight. xD


	3. Chapter 3

It had been two weeks since they had had sex, and Nagihiko wasn't sure if there was any way he could be more distressed.

The day after the two had done the deed, Rima hadn't given him a second glance. She hadn't responded to Nagihiko's greeting with more than a glance, and didn't speak to him without being prompted once. It was more or less the way she always acted, but that was the problem... nothing had changed. Nagihiko had hoped, quite desperately, that sleeping together would make her fall in love with him, or at least grow to like him a bit more. But yet, she still hated him as much as usual.

It was like she had forgotten about the whole thing.

He was very upset by this. And while Nagihiko usually did his best to keep calm, when things went out of his control, he grew to be very frustrated. He tried to keep a level head, he really did, but how could he when whenever he glanced over at Rima he either imagined how sexy she had looked riding him, or he remembered how very much in love with her he was and how she felt absolutely nothing. Really, how could _anyone_ keep calm with this going on?

But yet, all things considered, Nagihiko was acting pretty normal, no doubt because of his many years studying such skill. For the most part he acted just fine. He kept up with class, refusing to let his grades slip even in just the slightest, and still did remarkably well in helping Amu figure out the material. He would hangout with the others, making jokes and offering advice when needed. But yet he wouldn't go around Rima, and every so often he would sigh while staring off into space.

Occasionally Amu would notice something, but Nagihiko would quickly make up some excuse and she would drop it, completely satisfied. Tadase seemed to be noticing his behavior as well, but Nagihiko made sure he was convincing him that nothing was amiss as well. The blonde was definitely not as naive as Amu, so he still kept some of his suspicions whenever Nagihiko laughed and teased him for being worrisome, or yawned and said he hadn't had enough sleep the night before. But yet, most of the time Nagihiko was one hundred percent normal, so maybe he was just worrying too much.

One of the days when Nagihiko wasn't around for lunch (running an errand for the teacher or something like that) the others hypothesized who he could have been rejected by. Amu was certain that, since he had said so, it was nobody that they knew, but Kukai had his doubts. He thought that maybe it _was _someone they knew, and that Nagihiko was lying to protect her.

"Or him," Amu added on after a moment, before pausing, not really believing what she was saying, "Maybe he was rejected by a guy, and is too embarrassed to admit it."

There was complete silence for a moment, before Kukai burst out in a fierce round of laughter. He "patted" (hit) Amu's back several times, as if to congratulate her on giving a good joke. "Nice one, Hinamori!"

"Hey, its a plausible theory, okay? Maybe Nagi's gay!"

Rima snorted, trying hard to contain her giggles. "And where were you when I proposed that idea like three years ago?"

"Bwuahaha! Fujisaki gay! Hahahaha!" Kukai really seemed to find this prospect incredibly amusing. His head had dropped to the table in front of him, pounding his fist against the wooden table top as his head rolled side to side, unable to contain his amusement. "That's gold!"

"What's so funny about it? If Fujisaki-kun were gay, which I don't believe, why would that be so amusing?" Tadase asked, genuinely confused. Kukai lifted his head up slowly, before dropping it back down as he began laughing once more.

"No, it's just that I imagined him and you together for some reason! It's just so unlikely!"

Tadase's furrowed his eyebrows, even more confused, as Amu's eyes got kind of misty from across the table. "Oh, they would be so cute together."

"What the hell? You've been reading yaoi, haven't you?" Rima asked, her eyes narrowing suspiciously as she glared at her best friend from across the table. Amu laughed weakly, rubbing her head as she avoided eye-contact with the shorter girl.

"But anyway, that idea wouldn't work because Nagihiko's been acting just fine around Tadase. I think he'd be avoiding him if he was really rejected," Amu said seriously.

"Wait, did anyone ever actually think Fujisaki-kun liked me?" Tadase asked, even more baffled by what was going on. Rima shook her head, but Amu gave him a weak, lopsided grin.

"I really don't believe he's gay," Tadase said after a moment, "I just think he doesn't want us to make a big deal out of who he likes."

Tadase glanced over at Rima. Had Nagihiko been avoiding her lately, or had the two always been so distant? And certainly Amu _would_ make a big deal over her rejecting him... No, no. There was no reason to think this.

"Oh yeah, imagine if Yaya found out," Amu muttered, almost terrified at the prospect. Suddenly, Nagihiko keeping this quiet wasn't so much of a bad idea.

"He probably doesn't want to embarrass the girl he likes," Tadase said confidently, almost as if he knew everything (which of course, he didn't) "Fujisaki-kun doesn't take things lightly, and if he says he's in love then he most definitely loves this girl, even though she rejected him. He doesn't want her to get hurt, even if he himself is suffering."

At this, Rima fidgeted uncomfortably, but nobody paid her any attention.

"That sounds really depressing," Kukai noted, his fit of laughter finally over. He frowned as he tossed an apple high in the air, catching it effortlessly in one extended palm before tossing it once more, "Unrequited love must be bad enough, but when you've been flat out rejected and can't talk about it..."

"I know! We should try to get him over his unrequited love!" Amu suddenly exclaimed, her eyes sparkling in excitement. "The dance is coming up soon, so we should get Nagi to go and find someone new!"

"I don't know if that will quite work. Fujisaki-kun seems rather serious about this girl. Do you really think he could move on so quickly?" Tadase was skeptical, which was expected. He had known Nagihiko for over ten years, and the two had been best friends for about that long. When Nagihiko was serious, he would stubbornly hold onto what he wanted.

"Maybe not, but it wouldn't hurt him to get to know some new girls! And maybe he could find someone he likes much more than whoever he's into now!" Amu was so optimistic about this, that Tadase couldn't help but feel like perhaps this could help his friend after all. Maybe Nagihiko had more sense than he thought.

_Then again, being in love was a very dangerous thing_

After school let out, Amu approached Nagihiko, informed him that he was going to go to the dance that Friday, and that he had to come with her and Rima to pick out dresses at the mall that afternoon. Nagihiko was rather surprised by her sudden demand, but not opposed to following along after the two. They had almost made it out from the school when Amu spotted Tadase and dragged him along as well, insisting that he had to give them input on how their dresses looked, which made no sense to the blond because he knew for a fact that Nagihiko could pick out the perfect dress for anyone, and he would be perfectly frank about whether something worked or not. After pointing this out, though, Rima replied with, "Oh, don't you mean that Nadeshiko is good at-"

"Ack! Rima, stop putting such strain on me! You _know_ I get upset when I think of _that_!" Amu shrieked, causing Rima to laugh and Nagihiko to chuckle weakly. Ah, she wasn't going to make this easy for him, was she?

"Sorry."

"You're totally not sorry one bit," Amu said back, giving the short blonde a dead-pan expression. Rima smiled back at her.

When the group had finally reached the mall, and in turn the department store they were going to get dresses from, Nagihiko was starting to feel a little bit better about being around Rima. The way they were right now was just like how they had been before this whole incident happened. Maybe they could just go back to being friends... at this point, Nagihiko would definitely settle for that.

"I don't know how you can figure out which dresses look good on girls; they all look kind of the same to me," Tadase noted as he looked at the rack of formal dresses in front of him, almost as if he were examining them.

Nagihiko opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Rima who, two racks away (and obviously not enjoying herself one bit), said, "That's because he used to be a girl."

"Rima!" Amu scolded, dropping the black dress she was looking at to stare at her crossly. Rima shrugged, and went back to scowling at the dresses.

"Well, I suppose she is right. I definitely have to thank Nadeshiko for my fashion sense."

"Oh god, how will I ever choose just one?" Amu complained, looking between a short red dress with a bow and a long white one. Nagihiko waved a hand dismissively.

"I'll find you the perfect dress."

And in only a few minutes he had done just this. In one hand he held a strapless emerald green one with a short, knee length tulle skirt and black sash around the waist. In the other hand he held a midnight blue halter dress with a mid-thigh length skirt.

"Since Rima-chan is so petite, the shorter skirt will make her look taller, plus blue goes very well with blonde hair. Since Amu-chan has a nice hourglass figure, practically anything would look good on her, but I thought that she would prefer a skirt like this and the color of dress contrasts with her hair."

"Oh my gosh, Nagi! It looks perfect! Let's go try them on!" Amu said, her eyes sparkling with delight. Rima just sighed and let her friend drag her off towards the dressing room, Nagihiko and Tadase walking behind while carrying the two dresses.

The two girls went to get changed, and Tadase and Nagihiko were left sitting on a bench outside, wondering why it always took so very long for girls to try on clothes.

"This is one thing I'm still confused by. If you don't have to pick out your outfit, why should it take so long to put it on?" Nagihiko asked the other, leaning back against the wall, "I can change my clothes really quickly, so I don't know why it takes them so long."

"Girls always have to make things more difficult, I guess," Tadase replied, earning an appreciative nod from Nagihiko.

"Yes, they sure like causing problems."

"Wait, what-"

"Oh my god, Nagi! It's perfect!" Amu surfaced from the dressing room at this moment, wearing the green dress and practically jumping up and down in excitement.

"It does look really good on you, Amu-chan," Tadase said while smiling pleasantly. Amu grinned at the boys, before walking over to the three-way mirror and examining herself.

"Nagi, you always were the best at picking out dresses," Amu said with a content sigh as Rima slowly opened the door to her fitting room and stepped out of it with a unhappy groan.

"Rima! It looks so good on you!" Amu gushed as Rima walked (rather begrudgingly) over towards her.

"She's right, you look amazing," Nagihiko said, smiling happily. Rima crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, a stubborn look on her face.

"Whatever."

Nagihiko frowned a bit as Tadase let out a weak laugh, not knowing what to say. Amu apparently did not have this problem.

"I have to have this dress! But I don't think I have enough money on me," Amu complained, looking down at the price tag sadly. Nagihiko tilted his head.

"You could borrow some from me. How much do you need?"

"No! I couldn't ask for that much!" Amu insisted, her eyes wide as she waved her hands back and forth in front of her chest. "I'll just call my mom and have her bring some more; I think she's shopping in the area anyway!"

Amu rushed back into her dressing room. Tadase, Rima and Nagihiko stood in near silence for a few minutes, the latter trying, and failing, to make eye-contact with the short girl, as Amu talked animatedly to her mother over the phone from inside the room. Occasionally there would be a small thud, and Amu would exclaim in pain., causing Tadase to shake his head weakly. As soon as she had changed into her school clothes, Amu left the dressing room once more, her cellphone back in her bag and her dress in her hand.

"Here, you stay here and hold this, and I'll be back in twenty minutes with some money, okay?" Amu asked (or rather ordered) as she shoved the dress into Rima's hands. Rima took it from her quickly as Amu turned to Tadase. "Will you come with me?"

"Oh, of course," Tadase replied with a smile. Amu beamed at him, before grabbing his arm and walking off.

"We'll be right back!"

As the two walked off, Nagihiko muttered, "It really would have been better for her to just borrow money from me."

"Yeah, but Amu can't ever make anything easy," Rima muttered. Nagihiko laughed.

"Well, you're right about that."

There was a moment of awkward silence, in which Nagihiko realized that he and Rima were all alone for the first time since that day. It was definitely not a good feeling for him.

"Well, I guess I should get changed," Rima said after a moment, breaking the silence as Nagihiko glanced over at her. She slowly walked back into the fitting room, before stopping in the doorway. She stood there for a moment, staring straight ahead as though she were thinking deeply about something, before speaking in a quiet voice. "I think I knotted my dress too tightly, could you come help me with it?"

"Oh, sure," Nagihiko blinked uncertainly, wondering when exactly Rima lost the ability to dress herself. He wondered if sometimes she had her slaves help her with things like this as well...

Nagihiko walked into the fitting room slowly, as though worried Rima might randomly change her mind and scream at him, calling him a pervert. He realized, as he turned to face Rima, that he was definitely not the pervert. He realized this because Rima was dropping the dress down to around her ankles without a word.

The door to the dressing room slammed shut behind Nagihiko, the noise echoing in his ears as he stared at Rima, unable to do much of anything else. Why was Rima doing this? Well, Nagihiko actually had a pretty good idea of why she was doing this, but that didn't make him any less surprised. Why was she suddenly doing this _now_, after practically ignoring him for the past two weeks?

"I... wh-... Rima-chan! What do you think you're doing?" Nagihiko exclaimed, his voice coming out an octave higher than it should ever be as he backed up a few steps. Rima smirked at him, an evil glint in her eye as she stepped out of the dress and her panties, leaving her in only her high heeled shoes.

"I'm putting our 'relationship' to good use," Rima said, as she slowly walked towards him, her hips swaying back and forth seductively, leaving Nagihiko with the foolish and inappropriately timed notion that she could be a remarkable dancer if she tried.

"But _here_?" Nagihiko asked, or rather pleaded, his back hitting the wall as he gaped at the girl in front of him. Rima closed the gap between them, so her body was just an inch or two away.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from the figure in front of him. Not by any standards did she have what most guys would consider a remarkable body, being about a foot too short with A cup breasts, but yet Nagihiko was entranced. Even though she was short and underdeveloped, she was just so beautiful... But even though her body looked like one belonging to an angel, he realized, with a little pain in his heart, that her personality definitely did not match her looks. By this point, instead of being an angel, Rima was instead more similar to a succubus.

"I want it now, so why not in here?" Rima asked, slowly rolling her body against his, her hips meeting his briefly, rubbing against him in such a way that it was difficult for him to think logically in the slightest any longer. Nagihiko bit back a groan, his heart pounding as his blood began to rush somewhere he probably didn't want it right now. "Maybe you want it too?"

"N-not here," Nagihiko begged, somewhat half-heartedly, not wanting to do something so _vile_ in such a public place. Rima slowly reached a hand out and unbuttoned his pants, knowing that once she began Nagihiko would be useless to resist. Desiring to, but not have the willpower to push Rima away, Nagihiko let Rima push his pants down until they had fallen around his knees,"We can't do this here. What if Amu-chan comes back? Besides, we don't have any condoms."

"Don't worry so much, I'm on the pill," Rima instructed him. She began to finger the waistband of his boxers before dipping her fingers inside, stroking his arousal slowly. " You seem like you want it."

"How could I help it when your doing that?" Nagihiko moaned, his head falling back to rest on the wall as Rima pulled his underwear off of him as well. She stroked him, agonizingly slowly, deliberately taking her time so that Nagihiko was practically writhing with impatience. He groaned again. "Stop teasing me like that."

"Then you want it?" Rima asked, tilting her head "innocently," as if she had no idea what she was doing, but at the same time slowing her movements even more.

Again, lust and the heavy need of sex left the rational part of Nagihiko's mind completely useless, and next thing he knew his body was pressed up against Rima's, and Rima's was up against the wall. "I definitely want it."

Rima smirked, before a deep kiss was planted on her lips, and next thing she knew Nagihiko had picked her up and hoisted her against the wall. He froze for a second as Rima wrapped her legs around his waist and wondered if he shouldn't do this. But then she dropped herself onto him and he no longer had the choice to quit, or rather he couldn't think of any reason he would want to.

All he could think to do was thrust into Rima again and again, faster and faster as she moaned into his ear. He groaned, trying to restrain himself, but finding that this was nearly impossible. Yes, someone could walk in on them at any moment and that was an incentive for him to shut up, but yet it felt so good and the risk of getting caught just made it all the more erotic. And yes, it was definitely challenging to thrust in this position, especially considering this was only the second time that Nagihiko had had sex, but yet it was _so _good.

Rima clawed at Nagihiko's back, letting out small hisses as he thrust into her. After a few minutes she realized that Nagihiko was being a bit loud (moaning and groaning and the like) and, after a moment's thought, clamped a hand over his mouth, trying to keep him quiet before they were caught, because Rima was positive that it would be the most embarrassing moment of her entire life if she had to explain to someone why she was having sex with Nagihiko in a fitting room at the mall. Imagine if Tadase and Amu came back and heard them... Why did that idiot have to be so loud?

Nagihiko struggled to breathe through his nose once his mouth had been covered, but couldn't really worry about breath when he was _inside_ Rima, _screwing_ Rima senselessly against a wall. Rima, Rima, Rima... Rima who takes his breath away all the time without even trying. Rima, who was tightening around him and moaning in his ear.

And then, before he could think of anything else, he had come, moaning Rima's name into her hand as his whole body coursed with pleasure.

By this point, Nagihiko was incredibly light-headed, be it from the pleasure, or the fact that Rima had cut off over half of his air supply for several minutes, he didn't know. But yet even though his face was now as red as a tomato and he was finding it difficult to stand upright, he was incredibly content.

"Hurry and get dressed," Rima ordered, barely pausing as she slid from his arms and began to dress herself. In a daze, Nagihiko followed suit.

Just as the door opened and the two stepped outside, Amu and Tadase returned, the former happily brushing this off as nothing (probably something along the lines of Nagihiko reaching something that was on a hook too high for Rima to reach) but the latter looking at the two suspiciously. Nagihiko's heart pounded loudly. They were caught, they were caught...

Tadase didn't greet the two, but rather got straight to the point."What were you doing in their, Fujisaki-kun?"

"The zipper on my skirt got stuck and he was helping me fix it," Rima lied smoothly, her face blank and expressionless. Tadase's eyes darted from her (who's bangs were sticking to her forehead with sweat) and Nagihiko, who's face was red and was obviously sweaty as well. His eyebrows rose as Amu, ever the dense one, looked at him curiously.

"Could I speak to you alone, for a moment?" Tadase asked Nagihiko, his face clearly showing that he would not take no for an answer. Nagihiko swallowed hard, scared about what was to come, but knew not to say no. Nodding weakly, he walked over to the blond.

"I guess we'll meet up with you after we pay for our dresses then!" Amu said happily, grabbing her dress from Nagihiko's hands and then taking Rima's arm as well. "See you soon!"

As Amu and Rima walked off, Nagihiko began to get a bad feeling. As his adrenaline and endorphin levels dropped, he began to realize what had just happened... he had had sex with a girl who had almost ignored him for the past two weeks. Just because he was in love with her and she had turned him on he had screwed her...

Women were probably right; Men were perverts. Or, that was at least how Nagihiko felt now.

And worst of all, it was highly likely that Tadase knew what was going on now too. No, he didn't need to worry. Tadase wasn't the brightest of people, especially when it came to relationships. He wouldn't figure it out.

Tadase seemed to sense that Nagihiko was thinking deeply, or maybe the blond just couldn't collect his thoughts properly, so he headed towards a bench outside the store in silence, allowing his friend to trail along behind him and think things over. He sat down, indicating for Nagihiko to do the same, and hesitated for a very long moment before speaking. "Mashiro-san was the one who rejected you, right?"

"What? Why would-" Nagihiko began to deny this, but Tadase raised a hand to stop him, nodding his head slightly with a confident expression on his face.

"No, I know it was her. You've been acting weird around her for the past week. And I believe I'm right when I say that she has not miraculously had a change of heart, right?" Even though Tadase asked Nagihiko this, it wasn't as though he actually needed an answer. He had seen first hand that Rima was not treating Nagihiko as though she loved him. So when Nagihiko nodded weakly, it didn't surprise him in the slightest.

"So what is going on? You haven't really cheered up at all, if anything you might possibly be even more upset, and..." Tadase stopped for a second, biting his lip before continuing, his eyes downcast in the opposite direction, his face taking on the slightest hint of pink, "Did that really just happen in the dressing room?"

Nagihiko was thoroughly confused as to when Tadase had gotten so observant. Last time he had checked Tadase couldn't tell right from left, much less romantic/sexual feelings, and now he was figuring all of _this_ out? Well, of course he didn't want to blab about what had happened; not only was it embarrassing, but he was pretty sure Rima would be pissed off. Then again, he had been dealing with the entire burden on his own, and for the past few weeks he had longed to tell _someone_ what was going on. "I... do you promise that you won't tell _anyone_about this?"

"Of course! I didn't think you'd need to ask that," Tadase replied, his eyes wide, surprised that Nagihiko needed his reassurance not to speak. Nagihiko took a deep sigh, and then spoke after a long minute.

"Rima has proposed a situation of us being friends with benefits, and I agreed," Nagihiko muttered, his face red. Somehow, it seemed even worse when he admitted what he had done aloud. It was one thing when he thought about this situation inside his head, but yet when he told someone about it it was just so _embarrassing. _Tadase probably knew better, but most people would think he was playing Rima. Most people would think it was so disgusting that two people at their age were having sex when they weren't even dating, and one of the two most likely didn't even like the other.

Tadase knew that Rima had initiated this situation though, and not just because he took Nagihiko's word for it. No, as he had earlier said, Nagihiko was serious about love, and he would never begin such an agreement with someone he was in love with. But yet, even though he had thought that this was true since he had seen the two leave the dressing room, and maybe he had suspected it just a little bit before then, he was still so shocked. Yes, he had thought that this was going on, but it was just so preposterous. His best friend was having casual sex... There was one thing Tadase was still confused about.

"Why would you agree to that? I've always thought that you love her," Tadase asked, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Again, Nagihiko couldn't help but sigh. Even though he had known since the beginning of their relationship that what he was doing was wrong, it was suddenly as though all the guilt had manifested into one giant being, and he was so ashamed that he could barely bring himself to answer.

"Well, that's just it; I love her," Nagihiko met his best friend's eyes, but he could tell that the blonde was not getting it, so he explained. "I really didn't want to, but then she kissed me and it felt so right, and I figured at least I would be getting to spend time with her and make her happy. Being with her at all, even if I'm just being used, is better than being completely hated by her."

It took Tadase a very long moment to respond, "But what about you?"

"Huh?" Nagihiko asked, confused as to what Tadase meant.

Tadase paused, before looking Nagihiko right in the eyes with a dead serious look on his face. "Are you happy?"

Nagihiko had been pondering this question for the past few days. Yes, he was getting to spend time with the girl he loved, and during this time he was doing the most sacred and intimate act that two people could share, but was he really happy with it? When he was actually having sex, well the answer would be an absolute yes, but afterward... Afterward he always felt ashamed of himself, ashamed of giving in to his hormones. And every time Rima ignored him, he felt so hurt. He felt like his chest would rip in half when she wouldn't pick up his calls, answer his text messages, make eye-contact. Not only did he feel hurt, but he also remembered that he meant absolutely nothing to Rima.

There was only one way Nagihiko could answer that question, and it only took him a few seconds to do so.

"No, I am not happy in the slightest."

As soon as he said this, Nagihiko knew what he had to do. He didn't need to hear Tadase tell him what needed to happen, but yet when he looked at him with his sad, pink eyes and his completely sympathetic expression, Nagihiko felt like his heart would split in half. "You need to end this then."

"I can't," Nagihiko shook his head, his face contorted into an agonized expression. The more he thought about it, the more he knew he should, but yet this was _Rima. _The same Rima he had been in love with since sixth grade. He was going to give up on five years of love just like that? "I can't, Hotori-kun. For so long I've loved her, and now she's right in my grasp! How could I let go of her now?"

Tadase knew he couldn't. He remembered when he had loved Amu, he remembered how much it hurt to be so close, to have so many opportunities to get her, but yet have her taken away by Ikuto in the end. He remembered how very much that hurt him, and he could not see how Nagihiko could willingly put himself through that. But yet, he knew if Nagihiko didn't end things soon, he would end up broken beyond repair. He would end up unable to love for years and years, afraid of opening up to someone who would only cause him pain. He wanted to help Nagihiko, but how could he force Nagihiko to leave someone he loves so very much? How could he submit Nagihiko to the pain of losing the most important person in his world, knowing he would probably never get another chance with her?

Tadase thought about it for a long moment, trying to find a way to help his friend without ruining every chance he had with the girl.

"Well, why don't you try to build a better relationship with her? Maybe you could go to the dance with her, as friends if it would make her more comfortable, and get to know each other better. Instead of brooding over everything, you should work very hard to get her to fall in love," Tadase suggested. Nagihiko considered this. Yes, Rima was almost ignoring him except when she was horny, but maybe he could pick up his effort to converse with her. Back in sixth grade, the two _had_ been getting rather close before he left to spend a year studying dance in Europe. Maybe he could remind her of the "good" times spent together. Then again, he wasn't sure if getting a parfait together and dressing as his female ego to view cherry blossoms would be considered good times for the girl. It was a better idea then blindly following along with what Rima wanted right now, though.

"I guess I could try that."

"But Fujisaki-kun," Tadase said suddenly, his voice much more serious than before. Nagihiko looked up and locked eyes with him, surprised at how intense his gaze was, "If things get worse, if she ignores you more or treats you poorly, you need to end it right away."

"But-" Nagihiko was cut off by Tadase, who shook his head with a fierce scowl.

"You will _have _to end it. First love rarely lasts, I know mine didn't, and even though you may fall in love again and again, it takes a while for the wounds to heal, and you may end up forever wearing the scars," Tadase said, a commanding look on his face. Again, Nagihiko was shocked by his words. When had he gotten so eloquent and well-thought out? And since when did he know so much? Tadase sure had grown up; why couldn't Rima have matured in this way?

Nagihiko knew he was right though. As much as he hated to admit it, if things didn't change soon either he or Rima, or perhaps both Rima and him, could end up really hurt by their relationship. He didn't want to have to follow Tadase's advice, but he knew he had to. "I will."

"Do you promise?" Tadase asked, reminded Nagihiko of his seven year old self, back when their lives were so much more carefree and the only thing he had to worry about was helping his best friend take over the world. He almost half expected Tadase to make him do a pinky-swear.

"I promise," Nagihiko said, his voice heavy with the burden of all he was facing. Tadase smiled weakly at him.

"I just don't want you to get hurt; I remember what it's like to be destroyed by someone you love," Tadase said, feeling like he owed Nagihiko an explanation for why he was being so nosy. Nagihiko understood perfectly, though.

"I know, and I appreciate your help," Nagihiko assured him, but not sounding quite as convincing as Tadase would like with his unhappy expression. Nagihiko tried to smile, "Thank you."

"It's nothing," Tadase dismissed him with a wave of his hand, getting to his feet as Nagihiko slowly followed. He met eyes with him briefly, giving him a small smile, before turning and walking back to the store the girls were in, "After all, you've been there for me for all these years."

**A/N: WHAT, IS THIS THE APOCALYPSE OR SOMETHING? I UPDATED? WHAT IS THIS? Ha ha, what can I say... I'm sorry it's super late... but since it was so late, I made up for it by making it an extra long chapter, with over five thousand words! :D **

**And god, you don't know how embarrassing this was for me to write! Especially when my dad walked into my room to talk with me, right while I was writing the sex scene, and I jumped like a foot in the air. XD**

**But, I need your honest opinion; Do you think I should continue this story? I know it does have fans, but honestly I don't like the quality of my work. I'd rather drop it altogether, but don't think that that's fair to the people who reviewed and enjoy it, because I know that I hate it when a story stops halfway through (and there are like twelve people following this story -_-"). So please review if you like it and think I should continue, or even if you think I should start a new one (which I might possibly do anyway) I'd love to hear any of your opinions or suggestions. (All feedback is appreciated). Thank you so much for reading, and I will hopefully see you again soon. :)**

**(And no, I'm not trying to whine and threaten to quit unless I get reviews; I honestly just want to know if you think I should continue. PM me if you'd prefer.)**


	4. Chapter 4

Since Nagihiko had awoken Tuesday, the morning after he, Tadase and the girls went shopping for dresses, the only thing he could do was to think of what Tadase had told him. Try hard to get Rima to fall in love. Right. He could do that. Yes. Fall in love. Rima would fall in love.

He was going to be alone forever, wasn't he?

How to make someone like Rima, who didn't like relationships one bit and strongly disliked him, fall in love? Nagihiko supposed it was nearly impossible; he'd have a better chance with a wild lion. Then again, she had admitted to being attracted to him, and maybe that lust could be somehow turned into love.

Nagihiko couldn't help but snort at this, the prospect so ridiculous. It was very sad, but he felt like getting Rima to like him would be more difficult than getting her to hate Amu. After all, she had hated him since they first met. How could so much hate be turned into love? Flowers and chocolates definitely wouldn't work on her (after all, she got tons of these from her slaves every week), because she would barely talk to him taking her out on a date wouldn't work, and sex obviously wasn't doing much good….

Well, he supposed he should just keep talking to her. After all, it couldn't really hurt his situation much.

As he walked into his classroom Nagihiko pondered this. And, briefly, he let himself think about a different setting, where Rima loved him just as much as he loved her, and the two were together. Wouldn't that be nice...

Speaking of Rima, she was sitting over at her desk all by herself (well, that wasn't necessarily surprising; if Amu wasn't around, for whatever reason, Rima usually kept to herself). Nagihiko bit his lip; it was a perfect opportunity to talk with her in private, but she would probably not be very appreciative of his presence.

From across the room Tadase, who was talking with some of the other boys in the class, after following Nagihiko's gaze met his eyes and nodded ever so slightly. Yes, he could do this.

Nagihiko slowly walked over to Rima and sat down in the spot next to her, even though he'd been attempting to avoid that seat of late. Discouragingly Rima didn't look up at his presence, and just kept staring off into space. Nagihiko cleared his throat, somewhat reluctantly, and she slowly turned her head to look at him.

"How are you today, Rima-chan?" Nagihiko internally face-palmed; could he really not have thought of something better to stay?

"Fine."

Well, he really couldn't blame her for that.

What could he say? Nagihiko never had trouble getting along with people or starting conversations, but for some reason his mind was blank. Was it because of his feelings, or that he somehow felt that he could very quickly make things so much worse. Across the room, Tadase mouthed something to him, and Nagihiko was able to form words. "Are you looking forward to the dance?"

"No. I don't care about dressing up or whatever and it's not like I have anyone I want to go with. It's going to be boring, but as long as Amu's going then I might as well."

"Oh, well that's expected of you," Nagihiko said, with a small smile. Rima stared at him, her face blank. Even though Nagihiko had wanted to ask her to go with him, he knew he couldn't. Not because he didn't have the nerve (which he might not have anyway) but because he knew that she would say no. There wasn't a doubt in his mind.

"I noticed you didn't buy a dress yesterday; are you going to wear something old to the dance then?" Rima asked, tapping her pencil against the desk as she shot him a malicious smile. Nagihiko frowned.

"Ha ha, very funny." Nagihiko murmured, resting his head on one of his hands as he leaned onto the desk. He stared at Rima, who looked straight ahead, refusing to meet his eyes. "Why do you always tease me about that, even if it makes Amu uncomfortable?"

"Because it pisses you off," Rima replied simply, glancing over at Nagihiko briefly before looking ahead once more.

"So you would hurt Amu just to hurt me?"

Rima froze, her pencil suspended over the desk as she stared at the back of Manami's head. It took her a moment, but she finally answered in a quiet voice. "I'm not trying to hurt you."

"Well, you're definitely doing something wrong then."

Rima looked over at Nagihiko, and as she met his pained eyes she knew what they had been talking about had changed. She opened her mouth, but found that she couldn't say anything.

The two stared at each other for a long moment before Nagihiko turned away, grabbing a text book from his bag and flipping to a random page.

_It was futile, wasn't it?_

Nagihiko wouldn't do it anymore; she always said she hated him, but claimed she didn't want to hurt him. She always went out of her way to bother him. She rejected him, but instead told him she wanted his body. He loved her, but she just lusted after his dick.

No, he was done.

And, as he had decided upon this and headed to the table he and his friends ate lunch at, he was determine to stick with his decision. He would tell Rima he didn't want to screw around any more, he would tell her it was over.

But there she sat, so pretty with her long blonde hair and doe eyes, so innocent with her short legs swinging underneath the tabletop, too short to touch ground, that he just couldn't do it. He just wanted to be with her so much.

Just having sex together wasn't that bad, right? At least he was the one that she would cling to and show herself to. At least he was the only one. And, having sex with Rima was better than having no relationship with her at all.

Nagihiko decided that whatever happened would happen, and that from now on he should stop focusing all of his attention onto this matter. He would forget everything that had happened, and go back to the way things were before.

Or so he thought, but his friends were making this awfully difficult.

"Hey, Nagi, why don't you go to the dance with Rima?"

At Amu's words Nagihiko's jaw dropped, Tadase let out a small noise, and Rima froze for just a second, before returning to her indifferent expression. Tadase and Nagihiko met eyes for a moment, the latter with very wide ones, before looking back and the slightly puzzled pink-haired girl.

"Why would you suggest that?" Nagihiko inquired, keeping a straight face surprisingly well. Amu shrugged.

"Well, I thought that you should try to get over the girl who rejected you, and I always thought that you two would make a cute couple."

Nagihiko's heart hurt a little at this; he had always thought that they'd be a cute couple too. But maybe, if Amu proposed the idea, Rima would accept it. Despite himself, Nagihiko felt a little bit of hope. "Well, I suppose that's one idea."

"Like I'd go to the dance with a stupid cross-dresser," Rima muttered harshly, not even looking at said boy, "Anyone else would be better than a freak like him."

"Rima! How could you say something like that?" Amu scolded, her eyes wide as she stared at her friend; she never expected Rima to be so rude, even to Nagihiko, especially when she knew that Amu was tying to cheer him up.

"What? It's true," Rima muttered, picking at the sleeve of her sweater with a bored expression on her face. "Do you want me to lie?"

"There's a difference between lying and softening the blow your words cause," Tadase responded, looking at the blonde girl with disdain in his eyes. She blinked back at him, obviously not interested in what he was saying.

"Hotori-kun, it's alright," Nagihiko said, a fake smile plastered on his face. Tadase glanced briefly at him, and even though he wasn't good at telling when people were faking their emotions or not, he knew that it was not alright for Nagihiko.

"No, it's not. There was no reason Mashiro-san had to be so rude about her response; a simple, 'no thank you' would have sufficed," Tadase said, a hint of anger in his voice. He was trying to keep calm, but not only had Rima hurt Nagihiko so badly, she also showed no tact whatsoever. He had had to reject so many girls over the years, and at first he did so quite awkwardly, but he always did his best so he wouldn't make the girls feel bad about themselves. If you were going to reject someone that would hurt them bad enough; insulting them was just throwing salt into the open wound. "Do you handle the confessions from you fans in this manner as well?"

"No, of course not. I like what they do for me, so why would I want to hurt them?" Rima may not have meant to make what she said sound like it did, but her words left a heavy silence hanging in the air.

Nagihiko opened his mouth but didn't know what he wanted to say. Did Rima really not like him at _all_, even for sex? She treated her slaves better than him, her creepy, obsessed slaves?

"I just remembered I have something to do," Nagihiko said after a long moment of silence. He stood up, not having eaten much of his lunch at all. "I'll meet you guys in class later."

He quickly walked off, not stopping even when Amu called out to him. Tadase just stared at Rima, an accusatory look in his eyes. "What are you trying to do?"

Rima gave him a look, a look that was sort of hard to decipher. Part of it was her normal, cynical expression, but another part of it, the part less noticeable, looked somewhat like she was almost apologetic. "I'm just acting as I always do."

Really, that's all she was trying to do. She was trying to pretend that she had never rejected Nagihiko, that they didn't have such an odd relationship going on. She just wanted things to happen as normal.

_Nagihiko was the one treating everything differently_

Rima sighed as she left the classroom at the end of the day, holding her bag in her hand as she walked slowly down the hall. Frankly put, she was miserable. Tadase was pissed off at her (for what reason, she didn't know; did Nagihiko tell him…?), Nagihiko was obviously depressed (which Rima honestly didn't intend to cause at all), and Amu seemed to be a little upset with her as well. Just great; her efforts of keeping everything sane had just driven the current situation into the ground.

Maybe it was because of what she had said about rejecting the slaves. Now that she thought about it, it could have sounded as if she liked them more than Nagihiko. But she hadn't really considered today's events to be a rejection of Nagihiko; he hadn't actually even asked her to the dance! If she looked at the actual rejection of him, the one that occurred weeks ago, she thought she had handled that quite well. She didn't insult him, and she actually was sensitive about the subject. Frankly put, she rejected him more kindly than any of her slaves.

The way she claimed to hate him wasn't true hate, but it was rather just their relationship. She always teased him and made fun of him, but that was just the way it worked. Just because she wasn't all lovey-dovey towards him like Amu was or nice and supportive like Kukai it didn't mean that they weren't friends. There were lots of ways to have a relationship, and even though Rima was pretty certain she didn't love him it didn't mean she didn't like him, even just a little bit.

She did consider him a friend, albeit not one of her closet friends, but he still was a friend. And even though she wouldn't admit it, she would probably hang out with him even if he wasn't friends with Amu; it was fun to tease him, and he usually had such a fun response to it.

Well, at least before all this complicated stuff occurred.

Rima ignored the cries and bows of her dozen slaves as she passed by, walking out the front door of the building while thinking seriously about everything that had happened.

Nagihiko was rather good in bed, and sex was a lot of fun, but maybe this relationship was hurting him more than the rejection had. But why? Didn't most guys just have relationships for sex? Why else would they want to date someone; didn't they just complain about girls being too annoying and over-attached?

Rima's thoughts were cut off by someone approaching her, someone Rima probably didn't want to see, someone who probably would make this situation more complicated.

Fuyuki smiled at Rima, a hopeful grin on his face, and Rima already knew what he had wanted. "Can I speak to you in private?"

Fuyuki wanted the same thing he had all those years ago.

_But Rima still couldn't give it to him_

Rima and Fuyuki stood together on the side of the school, a few feet apart, close enough as to hear each other but not so close it grew to something intimate. He was obviously nervous, and rightfully so; putting one's heart on the line was a terrifying thing. It would be abnormal to _not_ be nervous while confessing, especially to the ice queen of the school.

When Fuyuki asked Rima to the dance, she wasn't inclined one bit to say yes; she didn't want to go to the dance with a guy. She hadn't rejected either boy because she hated them, but she didn't want to be tied down to a date. Rima just wanted to hang out with Amu.

"I don't want to go to the dance with you, and I'm not interested in dating."

"I... I see," Fuyuki muttered quietly, his eyes downcast as he looked away, too embarrassed to meet Rima's gaze.

And, although she didn't really like him, Rima felt her heart drop. The same thing had happened with Nagihiko, whether or not she would ever admit it. She wouldn't claim to have feelings she didn't, but when she saw these boys who loved her so much for who she was, not what she looked like, she was actually sad she didn't reciprocate their feelings. And maybe she had been attracted to Nagihiko (because frankly, no matter what she said, he was quite attractive) and wanted someone to have sex with, but that wasn't the whole thing. To be honest, it had just hurt her so much to see Nagihiko looking upset everyday, even though she hated him, and know that she caused it. But what could she do? She didn't want to betray her true feelings, so she wouldn't pretend as if she wanted to date him; it was just impossible.

Again, Rima was stricken by the feeling of hurting someone so badly. And, now that she thought about it, Fuyuki wasn't so bad on the eyes either, and had always been such a good guy.

She would never tell anyone, and not even admit it to herself, but she did really liked Nagihiko, as a friend, and had a soft spot in her heart for Fuyuki. She remembered that the indigo-haired boy had gone through after her rejection, and didn't want another to have to experience the same. And this would be his second time, he had loved her for so long.

Rima almost didn't say it, she almost just let Fuyuki walk away, but before she could tell herself otherwise she had spoken.

"What is your opinion on friends-with-benefits relationships?"

**A/N: Shit just got real... please don't kill me. D:  
****I do feel like this is is getting more OOC by the chapter. -_-" Well, mostly just Nagi. XD****  
****Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! As you can see, I decided to continue it (How could I not with nine reviews?) You guys spoil me so~ Love you all. :D (Not in a creepy way. XD)  
****Review if you'd like too; I'd so appreciate it. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

On Wednesday, Nagihiko didn't say one word to Rima. That was to be expected, though, Tadase thought. He had been really hurt, not just the day before, but also over the past few weeks. He knew it wouldn't last. In a few days Nagihiko would be treating Rima as he always had.

Nagihiko's behavior wasn't what was worrying him; Rima's was.

It wasn't a big change. She was still, you know, rude. She made snide comments (except to Amu of course) and commanded her "slaves" to do several useless things for her. But there was also something else there. He couldn't explain it, but he had caught Rima staring at Nagihiko's turned head.

It wasn't a regretful or sad sort of stare (either of which Tadase thought were fitting to the occasion). It wasn't a love or lust filled either. It wasn't even one of anger.

It was like Rima as deep in thought.

Well, maybe she would get some sense knocked into her. Having casual sex with someone, even Nagihiko, was not a good idea. Sure he was safe, but who's to say she wouldn't run off to some other guy who had STDs or would knock her up and leave her with a child? It was very foolish. Maybe she was finally getting her act together.

Maybe she was beginning to fall in love with Nagihiko.

Tadase didn't know if this was right. Rima didn't look like she was in love; she just looked deep in thought. Maybe she was beginning to feel something, but Tadase doubted that it was love at this point. But even if she just began to have a crush on Nagihiko, that would be such an improvement.

Tadase tapped his foot and bit the eraser as he watched his teacher write on the board, his focus occasionally drifting back onto his friends' problem before snapping back to the teacher's never ending retelling of the history of Ancient Greece. He really didn't need any distractions right now, history was always hard to focus on anyways.

As Tadase was looking down to scribble down some notes he noticed, out of the corner of his eyes, that Fuyuki was staring straight at Rima with a stupid looking grin on his face. Tadase frowned. What was up with him?

Rima glanced up and, after noticing Tadase's expression, she glanced over her back and looked at Fuyuki. Tadase couldn't tell what her reaction was, but he supposed it must have been bad because Fuyuki's grin dropped and he ducked his head down and began writing once more on his paper.

What was going on?

Tadase remembered back when they were in sixth grade and Fuyuki confessed to Rima. Could it be possible he had done so again and Rima had reciprocated his feelings? Was it possible that Rima was now dating Fuyuki, and she was going to give Nagihiko up completely? Tadase's stomach churned. No, this could not be happening. Nagihiko would be so hurt.

He glanced over to see Amu balancing her pencil on the fingers of one of her hands, staring into space with an absentminded smile on her face. She really needed to know what was going on here, didn't she? Maybe she could help remedy this situation; she was, after all, Rima's best friend. Maybe she could get Rima to figure things out.

It wasn't Tadase's place to say anything though, and he knew Nagihiko never would ask such a thing from her.

Tadase frowned and turned back to his paper, copying down what the teacher had written on the board. No, this wasn't any of his business. Nagihiko could figure things out on his own, and it wasn't doing anyone any good for him to worry about other people's problems. Right now, he should just focus on his schoolwork.

_He didn't have anything to do with this, so why was he so compelled to get involved?_

Rima felt sick to her stomach. No, she hadn't caught a virus or eaten something rotten. She was simply upset.

Upset with herself.

But she didn't know why. She didn't know why she would be fine and then suddenly feel like slamming her head against the desk. She didn't know why looking at Nagihiko made her want to throw up. She didn't know why looking at Fuyuki made her cringe.

Maybe she was guilty about what she had done.

That didn't make sense, though. Rima didn't love Nagihiko, and she never told him that they were exclusive. She had nothing to feel guilty about, because no part of their relationship implied that she would only do things with him. She couldn't feel guilty if there was nothing to feel guilty about.

Rima had been staring at Nagihiko for the whole morning (not that he noticed- although Tadase might have; what was his deal anyway?) but it wasn't like how his fangirls did. She honestly just wanted to know what she was feeling, and how it related to Nagihiko.

It was times like this, when Rima actually had problems with boys (which rarely happened) that she wished she had someone to talk to it about. Unfortunately, Amu was the only one she trusted enough to talk to and there was no way she was telling her about any of this. She had a feeling that Amu would end up siding with Nagihiko anyway. Really, why would anyone side with her? She felt like if she were on the outside looking in even she would side with Nagihiko.

She didn't want to hurt the people she cared about, but maybe her actions were doing just what she feared. But what else could she do? The only thing she knew how to do was rely on her looks. If she wanted to make it up to Nagihiko, while still remaining true to what she wanted, the only thing she could do was sleep with him again. That really didn't seem like the answer, though.

Rima had to admit that Nagihiko was much better in bed than Fuyuki was, even though he had been a virgin when this all started and Fuyuki had had sex with his ex-girlfriend a few weeks earlier. With a chuckle, Rima wondered if his poor performance was what made them break up; she had definitely enjoyed it much more with Nagihiko.

For some reason, Rima didn't think she and Nagihiko were going to do it again. The boy probably didn't want to because, unlike Fuyuki, who had leaped at the chance to have no-strings-attached sex, Nagihiko wholeheartedly just wanted to be in a relationship with her. Rima didn't know why, but the prospect of never sleeping with Nagihiko again made her sad.

She shook her head, scowling heavily. It was probably just because he was so good, and made her body feel so great. It had nothing to do with emotions or any of that.

But yet, she did have emotions. And that was probably what was making her feel sick.

_She might be starting to get attached to him_

Wednesday was arguably the longest day of the guardians' life. Nagihiko looked like he was going to break down in tears, Rima looked like she was going to slam her head into a wall, and Tadase looked like he simply might scream (for whatever reason, Amu was clueless).

Amu was probably the only sane one. It took her a short while to realize, but after an hour or so she noticed that everyone was completely breaking down.

If possible, Thursday was an even longer day than Wednesday. Amu, who had by now noticed the strain on her best friends, had invested all her energy into cheering them up.

Needless to say, she failed miserably.

At least Tadase was trying to hold things together, for the most part. He was most of the time calm, but then Rima would make some offhanded comment and he would snap at her, or Nagihiko would sigh and he would begin talking much too quickly about some random topic that nobody cared about.

Amu seriously considered skipping school on Friday just to get away from the madness.

But no, the dance was on Friday, and if she didn't go to school she couldn't go to the dance. Although, right now the dance wasn't looking like it would be fun at all. The only good thing about it was that since all grades could attend Kukai would be coming, and Kukai would be bringing Utau as his date.

If only Ikuto could come….

Amu sighed. It was very stressful to be unable to see him for such large amounts of time. Whatever the situation, Nagihiko should just be thankful that he had the ability to see the girl he loved, whoever she was, even if she didn't reciprocate his feelings. Just to be with someone you love should be enough…

Amu felt like maybe she should tell Nagihiko this, but by Friday he was starting to cheer up and she didn't want to bring it up if he was over it.

So, instead, she pretended like she was oblivious to what was happening around her, and acted cheery as usual. She didn't know what was up with Rima and Tadase, and didn't think she knew all of what was going on with Nagi, but she wasn't going to let them stress about it anymore. She would just try to get them to act normally again.

She didn't realize that Rima was just feeling worse and worse.

The short blonde was fretting even more Friday than she was the days before. No, she wasn't worried about the dance or anything like that. She was worried about those looks Fuyuki kept shooting her and the prospect of Nagihiko catching on to what was happening. She still didn't know why, though.

But there was such a large amount of guilt. Even though Rima could find no reason as to why she should feel guilty, she did feel it. Every time she looked at Nagihiko, she could feel it and for some reason, she felt a mix between hitting herself and crying.

What the hell was going on with her?

Maybe Rima knew what she had to do to, maybe she knew she had to apologize to him. At this point, Nagihiko probably wouldn't have even needed a confession of love. All he would need was Rima to tell him that she was wrong and that she was sorry for how she treated him. But Rima had pride, and that was a hard thing to let go of.

And, perhaps even more than that, she had guilt.

She wouldn't, or maybe couldn't, apologize. So what could she do?

She would do the only thing she knew how to do...

She knew that wasn't the right answer, but what else could she do? It would make the guilt go away, right?

"Nagihiko."

Rima barely dared to speak. Her voice came out so soft it was almost unheard. Nagihiko turned after a moment, giving the blonde a very surprised look.

She didn't show him the look Tadase had caught a few times earlier, she didn't let her face represent what she might possibly be feeling. She kept her strong facade on.

"Will you come with me for a second?"

Nagihiko stared straight at Rima, unable to do anything but blink. And he probably knew what she was going to do, even as he thought over what she might want. He opened his mouth, debating what he would respond with. Rima had treated him so horribly lately, but she still wanted him.

He really did love her.

"Alright."

Rima walked off, away from the rest of the group, and Nagihiko walked behind her quickly, his fist clenching tightly. Tadase bit his lip as he watched the two walk off, longing to say something but finding himself unable. Amu gave him a confused look.

"Why do you think they're running off right at the beginning of lunch?" Amu asked. Tadase knew, or at least he was pretty sure he did, but he couldn't tell Amu what was going on, so he merely shrugged. Amu's face fell. "Tadase-kun? Are you alright?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" Tadase asked, trying hard to keep up his bright and cheery persona. Amu didn't look convinced.

"Well, I don't know, but you look rather upset."

"Oh, I'm fine! Really, you don't have to worry about anything; I was just thinking about something." Tadase insisted, smiling at the girl. Amu smiled back at him.

"Alright then, if you say so."

_It truly wasn't him she should be worrying about, after all_

Nagihiko knew what Rima wanted as she lead him into an unused classroom, the same one in which their "relationship" had began. He knew that she wanted sex. But he didn't want that, he just wanted to talk. He knew Rima would not like this, but that's all he wanted too do.

He knew it wouldn't happen, though. He knew Rima would get what she wanted, even at the cost of his own comfort. So the words he tried to say were only halfhearted.

And even though they were in school, even though locking the door would not ensure that someone with a key wouldn't open it, he just let her do what she wanted. He barely even protested as she pushed him down into a chair and climbed on top of him.

Rima kissed him, she kissed him deeply, but yet, for some reason, Nagihiko's stomach didn't flip as it should have. In the past, every time Rima touched him he was just so happy he could die, but now he didn't feel that way. Sure, his body seemed to be enjoying it a heck of a lot, but mentally he was very unhappy. It just wasn't as good as the first two times.

"Nagihiko… sorry," Rima whispered as broke away from him before going back in to kiss his lips and neck. She may have been sorry for making Nagihiko feel badly lately, but he could not believe this apology. Really, she was probably just saying what she thought he wanted to hear.

So Nagihiko didn't respond, and maybe because he didn't rebut, Rima took it as he forgave her. Nagihiko didn't know what the blonde girl was thinking; all he knew was that she was continuing with what she wanted.

And yes, Nagihiko did enjoy it quite much, well, at least physically. He would never say that having sex with Rima didn't make him feel good. But mentally, it meant nothing. If anything, it just made him feel worse. All she wanted from him was sex. Nothing else but sex.

_So this was what it was like to be used._

As school drew to a close that day, and all the students spoke excitedly of the dance that night and who they were taking and what they were wearing, Amu noticed that her friends seemed very upset. She was looking forward to the dance, but she could tell Rima, Nagi, or Tadase were not. If anything, it somehow seemed as though they were dreading the dance.

Well, that was pretty usual for Rima. Rima hated dances and that kind of stuff, so her sour expression was expected. The boys on the other hand were a whole different story. Nagihiko usually loved dances (seeing as he loved dancing and getting dressed up) and Tadase had always liked hanging out with friends. So what had caused the change?

There was something going on, something she must not have known about. Why would they keep something from her, though? She's their best friend!

So as the group of four silently made their way to the entrance of the building (with Amu trying quite awkwardly to break said silence) it came as a great relief to her to see Kukai waiting out front. Kukai was the loudest, most cheerful person Amu knew, so if anyone was going to cheer the other three, or maybe two (Rima was always in a bad mood), up it was him.

"Hey, Hinamori! What's with the mood around you? It's like a cloud of depression!" Kukai asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he examined his two best friends sulk, Rima staring in the opposite direction with a cross look on her face, and Amu looking like she was about to cry from exasperation.

"I really have no idea! Everyone's just so upset and nobody will tell me what's going on!"

"What? Nothing's going on, Amu-chan! Nobody's upset," Nagihiko said, his face kind and smiling as it always had been, but even Amu could tell he was faking.

"We're fine; you two must be imagining things," Tadase said dismissively, giving them a kind smile. Amu had to admit that his expression looked much more real, and that he was much worse at faking things than Nagihiko. Maybe something bad was happening to Nagihiko, and Tadase was being upset by it as well? Or maybe they just both had their own problems.

"Well, okay then, it you say so…" Kukai said, crossing his arms while giving the other boys a highly skeptical look.

"Utau-chan is attending the dance tonight, right?" Tadase asked, probably just trying to change the topic. It seemed to work though, as Kukai's face brightened considerably.

"Yeah! I mean, she's gonna be going incognito a little bit; laying low and changing up her style so that nobody recognizes her," Kukai spoke happily, much like his normal self. It was nice, Nagihiko noted, that he was so very much in love and everything was working out for him. He was actually kind of jealous.

"That's good; I'm happy you two still get to spend so much time together, even though she's become very popular lately."

"Yeah, I know right? I really love her, you know? It's such a good feeling. I wish you guys all had someone like that too." Kukai gave Tadase a sympathetic look, that he tried to smile in response to.

"I wish I did too," Nagihiko muttered, rubbing one of his arms as he looked away weekly.

Tadase opened his mouth, but couldn't think of what to say, while Rima just turned away from him, wrapping her arms around herself.

"We'll lets fix that! We'll find some babe for you at the dance tonight!" Kukai said optimistically, pumping a fist in the air. Nagihiko could barely bring himself to chuckle.

"Sure; if you could find me someone I'd be very grateful."

"Then that's my goal! Hopefully it will put you in a better mood," Kukai said, grinning largely. Nagihiko smiled back at him.

"Thanks."

"Well, I'll see you all tonight then, right? We can all meet up and hang out together!" Amu said happily, smiling at the others. She received only a couple of grins in response.

"Sure. I'll see you then," Nagihiko said and, for a second, Amu almost would say he was back to normal.

But maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought she did, because ever since he had been with Rima in that classroom, he had been feeling even worse.

_And it would not get better anytime soon_

A/N: …I'm sorry. I've had a lot of things going on lately, and haven't felt up to writing. I've been very emotional, sickly, exhausted, and my family experienced a small crisis. On top of that, school's been a bitch and I've been really stressed out about it.

But I leave for DC tonight for a school trip, so I made myself finish this so that I could post it before leaving. I'll be gone for a week, so no updates for at least that long, but I should be updating two or so weeks from now. Again, sorry for not updating for so long, and I'll try to be consistent. Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing, even when I don't update for months. :) (And I know this chapter is a little boring, but trust me; things start to happen next chapter.)


	6. Chapter 6

Seiyo High School held nothing back when they put on school events, so Nagihiko had to admit that the dance was truly spectacular. But even though the decorations were good, the music was loud, and everyone was having a great time, he was not. Even dressing up didn't increase his mood, and he always loved to spend hours trying on different outfits.

Everything was perfect, except for the fact that Rima refused to even look his way.

Maybe he could just ignore her. He could pound a few glasses of punch (while strongly wishing they contained alcohol) and dance to the loud music. Maybe Kukai would come through with his promise of finding him a "babe" and he could dance with her. He wondered if Rima would be jealous a the sight of him gyrating against another girl, but quickly dismissed this; Rima didn't give a damn about him.

Nagihiko noted as he looked over at Rima (which he may or may not have been doing every few minutes for the past hour) that she looked absolutely bored. Amu was beside her, talking animatedly, but she looked indifferent to her surroundings, which was odd considering her surroundings included Amu. As he watched the two across the room, he heard Tadase sigh from beside him.

"You need to stop doing that to yourself," he muttered from where he stood next to Nagihiko, looking in the opposite direction and swaying slightly to the music.

"I'm not doing anything," Nagihiko muttered, refusing to look over at his friend. Tadase crossed his arms and shifted his weight to his opposite foot so that he was facing Nagihiko.

"Fujisaki-kun, don't lie. You know exactly what you're doing." Nagihiko glanced over and met Tadase's gaze briefly, before turning away.

"I know..." he muttered quietly, as Tadase stared at him expectantly, "I'll try to stop."

"Maybe you should take Souma-kun's advice and try to find someone new. I mean, I know you really love Rima and all but it couldn't hurt to see someone else in the meantime."

Nagihiko pondered this for a moment, before shaking his head."I'd much rather just hang out with you."

Tadase smiled at him weakly, wishing desperately that his friend was back to his normal self. It hurt to see him like this, but no matter how hard he tried there was nothing that he could do.

Well, perhaps there was something... would that really work, though? Or would it just make things worse?

Just as Tadase opened his mouth to say something, he felt someone jump onto his back.

"Ack! Souma-kun!" Tadase exclaimed, his eyes wide. Nagihiko chuckled a little bit, amused that Kukai did such a thing to him so often that Tadase could recognize him with no introduction whatsoever.

"Tadase! What's up, dude?" Kukai said loudly as he dropped off Tadase's back and wrapped an arm around his neck.

"Not much; I'm just talking to Fujisaki-kun," Tadase replied, smiling weakly up into the older boy's uncomfortably close face.

"Oh yeah, I forgot!" Kukai exclaimed, shooting his other arm to wrap around the other boy's neck. Nagihiko let out a small noise as his head was pulled in towards the other two. "I have to find you a girl!"

Suddenly another voice joined the conversation."Dude, you can barely find yourself a girlfriend; how do you expect to find him one?"

Kukai let go of the two boys' necks and the three turned around to see Utau, her hair tied up in an elaborate set of braids, with very peculiar makeup on her face and a pair of (presumably fake) glasses. In all honesty, Tadase didn't think even he would recognize her if he didn't know who it was. Frankly put she looked a little, well, unattractive. Well, he supposed her disguise (so as to not get mobbed by fans) was working.

"Harsh!" Kukai whined, sticking out his lip a little. Utau shook her head in exasperation before turning to Nagihiko.

"You want me to hook you up? I have some friends who would be interested; I gotta admit you're pretty hot so-"

"Whoa! I am _right here_!" Kukai yelled, his eyes wide with disbelief. Utau rolled her eyes and turned her back on him.

"So do you want me to set you up with someone? I know some models I could talk to."

Nagihiko shook his head. "No, its alright."

Utau turned to look at Tadase as she put her hands on her hips. "What about you?"

"Oh, no! I'm not interested in dating anyone right now!" Tadase insisted, shaking his head. Utau frowned.

"You two are the only guys I know who don't jump at the chance to date a model." Tadase shrugged.

"It's not so much as what's on the outside, versus what's on the inside; honestly, as long as I like the person I don't care at all what they look like. Someone's body is only trivial."

Kukai gave Tadase a look that plainly said, "what the fuck."

"When did you get so philosophical?"

"I noticed that too," Nagihiko noted, "lately you've been giving out quite romanticized speeches."

Tadase shrugged yet again. "I don't know."

As a small silence consumed the group a loud squeal was heard and across the room Amu was seen jumping up and down. She quickly grabbed Rima's arm and ran towards the group, eventually letting go of the blonde to wrap her arms around Utau's neck.

"I haven't seen you in so long!" Amu exclaimed, her face brightly lit. Utau scoffed.

"Why are you always so hyper about everything?" she asked while rolling her eyes, but Tadase and Kukai knew she was just playing her usual role of tsundere and was actually quite happy. Of course Rima knew this as well, which is why she usually shot a quite sour look in her direction during these times. Today, though, Rima didn't do this. In fact, she didn't look as though she cared at all.

Utau knew something was up right away, because it was the first time in her memory that Rima didn't look like she wanted to take her down when the two were in the immediate vicinity of Amu. She gave her a curious expression, and decided that she would talk to her about whatever was bothering her, because if there was one thing Utau knew, it was what that kind of look meant: boy problems.

_And, more specifically, love_

Nagihiko's heart felt as though it were about to explode right out of his chest. It was stupid, in so many ways, to be nervous about something so incredibly trivial.

All he was going to do was ask Rima to dance.

It took him over two hours to build up the courage to do this, though. Two long hours in which he would stand up then quickly sit back done, open his mouth and then close it, and jump about a foot in the air every time a guy walked anywhere near her. Every single time he did one of these things Tadase would sigh and give him an aggravated look.

"Just do it. If you don't, I'll do it for you."

So Nagihiko, after much pressure from his exasperated friend, finally went over. It wasn't like he was asking her out again, or having a serious conversation about anything, he was just asking her to dance. Friends danced together all the time; Amu and Tadase were dancing together right now (Tadase shooting his pressuring stares every time the opportunity arose).

He was just asking her to dance.

Why was his throat so dry? Why were his hands so sweaty?

Maybe because he had promised Tadase that if things didn't get better he would end it. Maybe because this really was his last chance with Rima.

No, he was just asking her to dance. This was by no means a big deal.

"You look awfully bored," he commented as he sat down next to the blonde girl. She glanced at him before turning forward once more.

"I hate dances." She said dully, staring straight at Amu and Tadase. "I only went for Amu."

"Is every single thing about Amu with you?" Nagihiko asked, but Rima just shrugged. Nagihiko wondered as he stared at her if maybe her feelings were more than friendship. Maybe the reason she didn't want to be with him was because she actually loved, in the special way, Amu. But no, Nagihiko knew this wasn't true; he was just looking for excuses for why she didn't like him. Rima was straight, or why else would she enter this kind of a relationship with a guy?

No, Rima just didn't love him.

It was silent for a long moment, and Nagihiko was suddenly consumed with a now-or-never sort of feeling. He had to ask Rima to dance, because he had to know if he meant anything at all to her. If she liked him, even just a little bit, she would say yes, right? No matter how grudgingly she did it, it would mean that she liked him to some extent.

It was just five little words; he could do this.

"Would you like to dance?"

Rima turned and stared straight at him, and for a moment Nagihiko felt as though she were sizing him up. She opened her mouth before closing it once more. She probably remained silent for five seconds at most, but to Nagihiko it felt like minutes, maybe even hours.

"I'm sorry, but I don't dance. Not with you, or anyone else. I'm not interested." There seemed to be a very prominent double meaning behind Rima's words, but maybe Nagihiko was the only one who caught it.

"It's fine..." Nagihiko smiled at her, but that was definitely not in any way what he was feeling. And for once, Rima could tell exactly what he was feeling, every last one of his emotions.

She could tell so very easily, because his eyes said it all. And maybe he was trying to hide it and his acting skills had worn off over the years, but Rima thought that this wasn't the case. She was pretty sure that he had just given up trying to hide the pain.

And she felt like shit for it, but what was she supposed to do?

Nagihiko walked off without another word, and Rima was once again filled with the feeling of guilt.

_She wondered briefly what she was doing_

Tadase had no idea what he could possibly say to Nagihiko that would make him feel any better. Rima had just turned him down once again; it honestly seemed as though the only time she wanted anything to do with him at all was when she wanted sex. Pointing this out would only make Nagihiko feel worse, though, so he definitely wouldn't mention it.

Where was Kukai when he needed him? Tadase was sure that talking to the carefree boy about sports or something would cheer Nagihiko up. What he needed right now was just to forget, but for some reason Tadase couldn't help him with this. Too bad Amu was busy dancing with Seiichiro, who looked as though he might either pass out or cry due to his excitement, because she was good at cheering Nagihiko up as well.

Tadase was about to point out Amu's really distressed expression at her current position to Nagihiko, but something made him stop as his mouth began to form words. His mouth fell open as a small sound left his lips.

Rima, who apparently didn't dance with anyone at all, was dancing with Fuyuki.

_She hated Nagihiko, didn't she?_

Rima was not lying when she told Nagihiko she didn't dance; she really hated dancing, especially in pairs. There was nobody that Rima knew that she dance with, even Amu. She hated it so much and she knew that she had hurt Nagihiko, but she was not going to dance.

Or so she thought.

But then Fuyuki had come over and when she turned him down as well he seemed to take it worse than Nagihiko did. He started whining and begging and it was all rather pathetic in Rima's opinion. She was going to tell him how stupid he was acting and then he started talking about how she was rejecting him after what they did and she had to shut him up or else other people would find out.

So she told him that she would dance with him.

Rima did not enjoy slow dancing with him one bit. Even though they had had sex together and in comparison this was nothing, she did not like that her body was pressed up so close against his. It made her feel sick to her stomach. She did not want to be dancing with Fuyuki, she would much rather be dancing with Nagihiko.

Wait, what? Did she really just think that? She frowned, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried to comprehend why in the world she would think something like that. She would rather dance with the stupid cross-dresser? Why did that thought cross her mind? It was because he wouldn't hold her so close, right? It was because he was more respectful than Fuyuki.

But somehow, Rima knew this wasn't right. She knew it wasn't right because there was a pounding in her chest, a pounding that couldn't be caused by something so trivial.

_It couldn't be... could it?_

When Tadase had seen Rima and Fuyuki dancing together he immediately knew he could not let Nagihiko see what was going on, but when he gasped Nagihiko's head began to turn, curious as to what Tadase had seen.

So Tadase had acted quickly, without thinking, grabbing Nagihiko's head firmly in his hands and pulling it towards his so there was no possible way that he could see Rima and Fuyuki.

"What are you doing?!" Nagihiko exclaimed, obviously incredibly surprised. For a second he had thought Tadase was going to kiss him, but there was still a few inches of space in between the two's faces.

Tadase, in a panic, said the first thing that popped into his mind. "Is there something in my teeth?"

Nagihiko blinked, his mouth dropping open in surprise. "No, I don't see anything."

Nagihiko tried to pull his head away, but found Tadase's grip tightening on his hair. His head was pulled even closer and Nagihiko was now slightly scared about Tadase's motives. "Hotori-kun, there's nothing in your teeth."

"Are you positive? One hundred percent positive?"

"Seriously, there is nothing-"

"Whoa! Dude, I knew you two were gay for each other!"

Tadase let go of Nagihiko's head as his cheeks turned red, obviously not earlier aware of the compromising position he had caused. Nagihiko gratefully leaned away, rubbing the sides of his head as he looked up to see Kukai standing there next to them, obviously trying hard not to burst into laughter.

"And nobody believed me earlier when I brought it up!"

"We're not gay for each- wait, when did you bring this up earlier?"

Kukai laughed and rubbed Nagihiko's head, not bothering to answer his question. "Dude, I would have bet a thousand bucks that you two were making out just now! You're faces were so close together!"

"Well, yeah, I'm not sure what just happened. Hotori-kun said there was something in his teeth and went crazy." Kukai gave Tadase a confused look, but the blonde just shook his head. Well, as least he had got what he wanted. Nagihiko was now distracted, and the song was almost over so he wouldn't have to worry about him seeing Rima.

Suddenly, Kukai's eyebrows furrowed as he looked out at the dance floor. As he opened his mouth Tadase followed where his eyes were looking and his heart stopped.

_No._

"Hey, that's weird-"

_No._

"Who would've thought that Rima-"

_No. _

"And Fuyuki-"

_NO! _

"Would dance together? Huh, now that's unexpected."

Tadase did not need to look at Nagihiko to see the expression on his face, but for some reason he looked at him anyway.

Tadase wished he hadn't.

He had never seen Nagihiko look so upset. His mouth was slightly open and his eyes were wide. He quickly stood up, spinning around to see what he was praying wasn't true. Tadase stood up slowly, opening his mouth but knowing nothing he could say would help anything.

Nagihiko just stared at Rima pressed up against Fuyuki and swaying back in forth to a song Nagihiko could no longer hear. For a second he thought he was going to pass out, as his vision was so blurred he couldn't see, but then he realized that it wasn't his eyes that were causing this, it was the tears filling them.

A dance maybe shouldn't have caused this kind of a reaction, especially when Nagihiko did not know what the reasoning for them dancing was, but yet Nagihiko felt as though this were it. He knew that Rima did not love him, he had known this for she had told him that it was true, but he hadn't thought that she had feelings for someone else.

He had never thought she would pick Fuyuki of all people over him.

How had he not been good enough for her? He had done everything she wanted, even when it hurt him. He had followed every single one of her wishes, he had put himself through so much pain for her sake. He hadn't been rude to her, he had dropped everything whenever she wanted him to come. He had put himself through hell.

But yet it wasn't good enough.

The two weren't together yet, Nagihiko knew because he hadn't seen her speak to him, much less look at him, for a few years, but it was only a matter of time, right? If Rima would dance with him, she would probably get together with him soon enough.

"-right, Fujisaki?"

Oh, was Kukai talking to him? Nagihiko hadn't noticed. He turned around, opening his mouth as he tried desperately to make up some ambiguous answer that would make it seem as though he was still okay, but words couldn't form. Kukai's face was blurry, and so was Tadase's. He blinked a few times as Kukai said something else, something Nagihiko couldn't bring himself to hear. He was done.

Nagihiko turned and walked out of the room. He pushed open the large gymnasium doors, walking down the hall quickly. He passed the couples making out far from their teacher's eyes and a painful feeling rose in his stomach. Rima would never do this with him. In a few days, Rima would probably be doing this with Fuyuki.

"Fujisaki-kun!"

Nagihiko turned around slowly as he heard his name being called. He watched as Tadase ran up to him, a pained expression on the blond's face. He stopped a foot or so away from him.

"You didn't want me to see that, right?"

Tadase froze for a second, before nodding his head. Nagihiko let out a small sigh before he spoke again. "Why him?"

"I don't know. He might have been really persistent or something. You know Mashiro-san doesn't like dealing with people; it probably didn't mean anything."

"She said she doesn't dance with anyone. She wouldn't dance with him if it meant nothing."

Tadase couldn't think of anything that would ease Nagihiko thoughts. There was nothing anyone could say to him that would make him feel better about any of this.

"I think I'm done."

"Done with what?" Tadase asked, confused by Nagihiko's sudden declaration.

''I'm done with Rima."

And even though Nagihiko said this, Tadase knew it wasn't true. He knew that Nagihiko would probably never be done with Rima. As he had said many times before now, Nagihiko was serious about love, and if he said he was in love then he was in love.

And as the tears fell from Nagihiko's eyes, Tadase definitely knew that it wasn't true.

He was useless though, so he simply wrapped his arms around his best friend and let him cry on his shoulder. What else could he do?

_Only Rima could fix this now_

Rima did not know why she was so annoyed. Was it Fuyuki's persistence to dance? Or was it because she had turned Nagihiko down?

…. Of course it was the first one! Why in the world would the second bother her at all?

"You're in love."

Rima froze for a second, worried that she was hearing voices, before she noticed that Utau was now sitting next to her.

"Of course I'm not in love!"

Utau laughed and shook her head. "I've been sitting here for like five minutes, and you didn't even notice until I said something. That kind of distraction only occurs when someone has boy problems."

"I was just thinking about-"

"Nagihiko."

Rima froze, her mouth agape, wondering how in the world Utau would know something like that. But what, was she implying that she was in love with _Nagihiko? _"Why do you-"

"I heard from Kukai that Nagi was rejected by someone, and then I noticed that you didn't care about Amu sticking onto me earlier which means that you were obviously having boy problems of some sort, and then I took into account all of the sexual tension between the two of you so it was actually pretty easy."

"I... I may have been thinking about him," Rima muttered, her cheeks reddening slightly at being found out. Utau smirked.

"So, do you want to talk to me about it or do you want to be lost and confused for the unforeseeable future?"

Rima didn't know why, but she ended up telling Utau everything (after a little persuasion, of course). Maybe it was because she wanted to let it out, or maybe it was because she trusted Utau to give her good advice. She didn't know why, but she told her everything. And, when she was done retelling everything, Utau said something Rima didn't want to hear.

"You are definitely in love with Nagihiko."

_And Rima's heart pounded at this, like it definitely shouldn't have_

Nagihiko did not leave his house all weekend. Instead, he invested all of his time into his dancing. His mother was very confused by this, but she just respected his wishes and helped him as he worked many more hours than usual.

Nagihiko made sure he was always working on something during this weekend, because he did not want to have idle time in which thoughts of what had happened could form. He would force himself to forget Rima and everything that had happened between them.

And then he noticed something was wrong. He noticed he was having pain, and then he noticed something even worse.

His mom took him to the doctor and with this all of Nagihiko's sadness turned to anger. He was no longer upset that Rima didn't love him, he was mad that Rima used him. He was mad that she had lead him on. He was mad that she had had sex with someone else.

The cause of this anger?

Gonorrhea.

**A/N: **Tsk Tsk, someone should have used protection. Let this be a lesson to you all~  
I would have had this up two weeks ago, but missing school for a week right before finals really makes it so you have a lot of work to make up! T^T I'm now free from school as I just completed finals though, so I'll actually have time to write.  
Thanks so much for reading, and everyone who reviewed last chapter I didn't get a chance to PM you but thank you ElricKeyblade, BuBuBoom, and Anon. :) So if you have a moment please review, and I'll just say that I _do_ get more motivation to write quickly the more reviews I get, hint hint. XD


	7. Chapter 7

When different people realize they're in love, they have different reactions. Some are happy, and embrace their feelings with open arms. Other are mad, and try to deny them as long as possible. Depending on how someone is, how their past was, they can react in many different ways, they can have many different feelings about it. Some with laugh, some will cry, some will scream.

Rima was not happy about her feelings, nor was she mad. She was scared.

Every time she thought of Nagihiko and her heart pounded in her chest, she grew more and more scared. She had sworn she would never fall in love, especially not with a man. Her mother had fallen in love, and then not only had her heart had been broken, but her daughter's had been as well. All love came to an end, and Rima didn't want to face that. She had always told herself she would never fall in love. In all honesty, that's probably why she had always been so rude to Nagihiko; she knew if she didn't she would end up falling for him.

Rima couldn't force it down anymore, though; once Utau had told her she was in love, Rima could no longer deny it. Why it felt more right to be with him rather than Fuyuki, why she felt so guilty about everything, and why she wanted to be near him, Rima now knew the reason: she was in love.

And, even though she was scared, she knew what she had to do. She would tell Nagihiko how she felt, and maybe that would fix things. She could ask him to date her, instead of having such an awkward relationship. She could talk to him more, and try not to insult him. She could make up for everything bad she had done to him.

Now that Rima had accepted her feelings, she was feeling a little bit less scared about being in love. If she had to be in love with someone, Nagihiko wasn't a bad option.

Nagihiko had always been so nice to her, she was sure that when she confessed everything would work out fine.

_Too bad things don't always go as planned_

Tadase had to say he probably wasn't prepared for how things would be Monday morning. Or, at least not for things to be bigger than just between Nagihiko and Rima. And especially not for him to be involved in it.

Apparently, many people had gotten the same idea that Kukai had when he saw Tadase trying to direct Nagihiko's attention away from Rima and Fuyuki.

It had started off as rumors that Nagihiko and Tadase had been making out during the dance, which Tadase of course had vehemently denied every time the opportunity arose. Unfortunately, nobody really seemed to believe him. And then, once everyone in the school was completely sure that the two had at least locked lips even more rumors began to spread that Nagihiko and Tadase had been seen hugging in the hall, and that the two had left the dance early together. And while the second round of rumors were technically true, they definitely had not been leaving for the romantic rendezvous that most people were suggesting.

Maybe these rumors would have died down if someone hadn't let slip that Nagihiko had been rejected earlier this year.

Within the hour between the school opening and class starting the whole school was convinced that an elaborate gay scenario had taken place at the dance. Evidently Tadase, having rejected Nagihiko's feelings long ago, finally came to his senses and kissed Nagihiko in the dance. Nagihiko was embarrassed or, as the girls liked to put, "tsundere and uke" so he ran away. Apparently Tadase had declared his undying love for Nagihiko and the two had hugged before leaving so that they could "fuck senselessly" for the rest of the night.

Tadase thought that while the whole concept was rather weak it was well thought out and that whoever made up such a plot must have been very imaginative.

Anyway, this whole gay love thing was really putting quite a bit of strain on Tadase. He had come to school early, as he usually did, and for the past hour or so nobody had approached him to talk about it but he had heard practically every person in every room he entered whispering about it behind his back. He was worried about how these people would react when Nagihiko got to school; it would probably send them into a frenzy.

Of course Kukai found this whole thing incredibly entertaining, and he was certain that Amu actually believed the rumors no matter how much he denied them. He was curious to see Rima's reaction; maybe, although it might be foolish to think so, she would be affected by such rumors. But then again, was that best?

Maybe it was selfish, but Tadase wished that Rima would just leave Nagihiko alone. It would hurt him less if she stopped giving him false hope. Even if she got jealous, she still wouldn't love him, right? She'd just use him again.

Rima finally came into the classroom right before the bell rang; Nagihiko still wasn't there at this time. But, when Rima did come in, she seemed sort of agitated. Tadase wasn't sure if it had to do with the rumors or with something else, but she did not look as though she were enjoying herself. She just slammed herself down into her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, staring straight ahead

"Rima, are you okay?" Amu asked, almost nervously. Rima turned to look at her, and for the first time since they had become friends she was glaring at her.

"I'm fine."

Even Amu could tell that this was a lie. But who would dare to say something?

Why was she like this? Was it because of the rumors of Nagihiko being gay, or had something else happened? No, of course it was something else; Rima didn't like Nagihiko. She had probably had a falling out with Fuyuki or something.

Speaking of Fuyuki, he didn't happen to look all that happy either. It wasn't like he was mad or upset, like Rima was, but instead he looked kind of sick. Or rather, not sick, but in pain. Like he had a headache or something.

Tadase looked back over towards Rima, and noticed that she was giving him an incredibly foul sort of look. Maybe she _had_ been affected by the rumors...

There was a small buzz and Tadase reached down to pull his cellphone out from his bag. Surprised, he read the text that Nagihiko had sent him:_ Is Fuyuki there_?

Tadase frowned. Why in the world did Nagihiko care about Fuyuki? He quickly typed back: _Yeah. He looks like he's in pain though so he might leave soon. Why?_

Tadase waited, but he didn't receive a reply. He wondered what Nagihiko could want with Fuyuki; well, it probably had to do with Rima. But Nagihiko really seemed like he was done with her for now.

_And Tadase had no idea of how very done Nagihiko was_

Nagihiko was still feeling unwell on Monday morning, but he needed to go to school. He needed to end things with Rima once and for all.

It hadn't taken Nagihiko long to figure out who Rima had had sex with besides him. It was obvious to him after the dance that something was going on between her and Fuyuki. And Fuyuki had liked her all those years ago; what was to say he didn't feel the same now?

Nagihiko felt filthy. He couldn't believe that Rima would do something so horrible. He couldn't believe that she would have sex with two people at the same time... And, now that he thought about it, how did he know she stopped there? She could be sleeping with a dozen other people. Perhaps he did mean absolutely nothing at all to her.

Was he just another one of her slaves? Or, in this case, was he the equivalent of a concubine?

Something snapped inside of him, the more he thought about it as he waked into the school late. He had been angry and sad all weekend of course, but it was slowly intensifying. Every person he passed (who he was too upset to notice were giving him weird looks) could have been someone Rima had slept with. Was he even her first? Or was he just another guy, someone that didn't even matter?

With every step, every thought, Nagihiko got more and more angry. He didn't deserve this, right? He had done nothing wrong. All he had done was fall in love with a horrible witch.

No, he had to calm down. It would do no good if he entered the classroom in a rage and yelled at Rima. He had to keep a level head and speak calmly with her. He couldn't lose it.

"Fujisaki-kun!"

Nagihiko, who was not paying much attention to his surroundings, looked up with a start to see Tadase standing there. He also noticed that there were about twenty girls standing several feet behind him, looking as though they would die from their giggling.

"Has anyone been bothering you about it?"

"About what?" Nagihiko asked, blinking in confusion, obviously not having any idea what Tadase was talking about; coming to school late?

"About the rumors! You didn't hear?"

"No, hear about what? And why are those girls staring at you like that?" As he said this, the girls just kept giggling. Tadase didn't even turn around, but instead sighed.

It was then that Nagihiko noticed that Tadase was standing at least four away from him, and seemed reluctant to make eye-contact.

"It seems as though some people at the dance seemed to get the wrong idea about what happened," Tadase said slowly, rubbing his arm slowly. Blushing, but still refusing to meet Nagihiko's eyes, Tadase finished, "The rumor is that we're lovers."

Nagihiko's mouth dropped open. Of all the things he thought Tadase could have been talking about, this had not, and never would have, even crossed his mind. "What?!"

"Yeah, it started off with people just thinking we kissed, and then they knew we left at the same time so..."

Tadase did not need to finish the sentence for Nagihiko to get his point. "I'm going to kill Kukai."

"Oh, it's not his fault, I don't think, although he did seem to be rather excited about this whole thing..." Tadase trailed off, his eyebrows furrowing as he wondered whether it was actually Kukai's fault, before remembering the text Nagihiko sent him earlier. "Hey, why did you ask me about Kirishima-kun in your text message?"

"I..." Nagihiko couldn't finish his sentence. How in the world was he supposed to say something like that? And anyway, he was trying to calm down, right? He already had enough to worry about without losing his cool. "I'll tell you later."

Tadase knew it had to do with him and Rima, but wondered exactly how everything fit together. Something must have happened over the weekend, he was sure. But, before he could say anything, he was interrupted by the worst possible person.

"Oh, so the rumor of you two being gay is true?"

Nagihiko turned around to see Rima standing there, her arms crossed over her chest and a frown on her face. At once, all the rage he was trying his hardest to keep down came bubbling up, threatening to control his actions. Instead of frowning, like he wanted to, he smiled. "You of all people should know that's not true, Mashiro-san."

Rima looked at little confused by the name he used for her, but shook it off, giving him a small smirk. "Are you sure? Because you look awfully homo to me."

Nagihiko couldn't keep it up. After everything that happened, she was still playing this stupid little game with him? His smile dropped, and for a second Rima looked taken aback. He stared straight into Rima's eyes, a dark look she had never seen before in them, before he turned to walk away. He grabbed Tadase's arm as he passed, bringing him with him as he walked away from her. Rima frowned, and a horrible feeling grew in her chest. She was jealous, because even though she knew Nagihiko had loved her she wasn't sure that he still did. Maybe Nagihiko had gotten fed up with everything she was putting him through. Maybe Tadase _had_ kissed him. Maybe the two were together. Consumed by jealousy, she spoke without thinking. "You're still going to stick with that stupid fag?"

Nagihiko stopped for a second, and time seemed to go by painstakingly slow for a very long moment.

And then he snapped.

Without giving it a second thought, he moved. He let go of Tadase and spun around, walking straight towards the girl who had gone from just hurting him to hurting his best friend as well. He didn't think, he couldn't think, and before he got control over his actions his open palm had met Rima's cheek.

A loud slapping sound echoed throughout the hallway, and silence fell among the chattering students nearby. Rima's gasped, her hands flying up to grab her now red face, her mouth opening and closing uselessly in indignation.

"Do not bring my friends into problems you have with me," Nagihiko said, his voice coming out much darker than anyone had ever heard it before. Rima had never known he was capable of such anger.

After a moment, Rima was able to shriek, "What the hell! You can't just hit a girl!"

"Why not, Mashiro-san?" Nagihiko asked, his voice icy as he glared at her, "After all, you always tell me that I am a girl, right?"

"But you're not actually..." Rima trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

"Oh, that's right, you know I'm not a girl now, right?" Nagihiko stared straight into Rima's eyes, his voice almost challenging, "You know for the same reason you know Kirishima's gender, right?"

Rima couldn't speak, she was dumbstruck. He knew... he knew. How had he figured it out? Had Fuyuki told him? How...?

Nagihiko, seeming to sense Rima's thought process, spoke once more. "You might want to get your Gonorrhea checked out; it can do quite awful things to your reproductive system if left untreated."

Rima's mouth fell open, and Nagihiko turned around once more and walked away. And maybe, at this point, he would have been the victim of much hate. But those watching silently, witnessing something they knew they shouldn't, could distinctly make out the tears that were falling from his eyes. And somehow, they all knew that he had been the victim.

Rima just stood there as everyone stared at her. What could she say? What could she do?

_Because by the time Rima had fallen in love with Nagihiko,_

_Nagihiko had already fallen out of love with her_

A/N: Sassy Nagihiko is fabulous. XD You go boy. And I can never resist the urge to make someone slap someone else~ hee hee. Rimahiko slapping ftw!  
Please review if you have a moment; I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks for reading! :)


	8. Chapter 8

When lunch period had ended, Nagihiko trudged into the classroom rather reluctantly. He had hid since the incident in the hallway, too worried and embarrassed to meet with anyone. He didn't answer the phone when Amu or Kukai called, and ignored their texts. They eventually stopped trying to reach him, and Nagihiko could only assume Tadase had asked them to stop.

Five minutes before class started after lunch, Nagihiko entered the room and watched as it fell silent. Of course, everyone was occupied with the gossip. He could only shudder when he thought of what it had become since the scene.

Everyone stared up at him, except for Rima, who was pointedly staring out the window, her hand under her chin. Amu stood up, slowly meeting him as he walked down the aisle between desks. She whispered quietly in Nagihiko's ear, making sure that her voice didn't carry into any of the others prying ears. "Was Rima the one who rejected you?"

Nagihiko nodded. Amu didn't seem too surprised about this, but rather somewhat sad. She couldn't even bring herself to smile, and just gave him a pained look. Tadase stood up and joined the two. "I told her and Kukai about what happened in the hall, I hope you don't mind."

"Did you tell them everything?" Nagihiko asked, his voice low. Tadase shook his head.

"No, only what just happened."

Nagihiko nodded slowly, wondering if this was good or bad. He didn't care about protecting Rima anymore, so maybe it wouldn't hurt for then to find out the truth. Amu would certainly be mad, and Rima would certainly be devastated if Amu completely abandoned her.

But no, even if Nagihiko wanted to get revenge for how Rima had made him feel, he would never do something that made her hurt so much. No matter what happened, he couldn't do this to her.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to sit in the back from now on," Nagihiko muttered, glancing at his old seat next to Rima. Rima didn't seem to care about this information, and just kept on staring out the window. Nagihiko noticed her face was a little red, presumably from where he slapped her, and couldn't help but feel a little bit happy that even if she didn't want to she would be forced to remember the pain she'd caused.

"I understand, um, I'll…" Nagihiko could tell Amu looked conflicted. Nagihiko and Rima were two of her best friends, and all of a sudden she was being forced to pick sides in an argument that she knew nothing about. He felt bad, and knew he had to take it easy on her.

"You can sit with Mashiro-san," he said, trying to give her a small smile of reassurance, "I don't mind."

"Oh, are you sure?" Amu asked, obviously conflicted. Nagihiko nodded.

"Yeah, It's alright. I'll talk to you after school."

Nagihiko headed to the back of the room, Amu giving him a nervous look as he walked away. "I wonder if he's going to be okay."

Tadase wished he could smile and assure her that everything was going to be fine, but he knew Nagihiko would not be okay for a long time. Sighing, he picked his bag up from the floor. "I'm going to go sit with him, but don't worry about it; Fujisaki-kun won't blame you for anything. He's very tolerant with you since you're such an honest person."

Rima buried her face into her sleeve, feeling Tadase's gaze on her back and knowing that his words were directed at her. Amu glanced at the blonde girl before turning back to Tadase. "Alright. I'll talk to you later."

"See you later," Tadase said brightly, smiling as he walked toward the back of the room to join Nagihiko. As he walked a murmur broke out throughout the classroom. Of course. He had forgotten that everyone was convinced they were lovers. Well, he didn't care. He knew they weren't, and everyone else could believe whatever they wanted. It was better than them gossiping about Nagihiko and Rima's weird relationship… well, at least for Nagihiko it was.

As Tadase sat down next to his friend (making sure his chair was as far away as possible so he wouldn't provoke anyone) he could feel every pair of eyes in the room on him. He smiled, and as a few girls grinned back the rest of the room turned back to the conversations Nagihiko's entrance had stalled.

Tadase sighed. "Well, they're complicating things a bit."

"It's kind of weird," Nagihiko murmured, "I thought they'd be all abuzz about what happened in the hall, but instead they're all excited about the idea that we're a couple."

Tadase thought it was weird too, but he suspected that the student body just hadn't gotten wind of it yet. After all, it had all taken place just half an hour ago; gossip surely wouldn't travel that fast. "Well, I'll bet they eventually end up freaking out about that too. I think that maybe the two things will combine as well."

"People are so extravagant," Nagihiko muttered as he dropped his head on the palm of his hand, resting his elbow on the table. "Why are they trying to make something out of nothing?"

"Well, it you saw Souma-kun holding, say, my head really close to his, what would you think?"

"Knowing you two? Not that you're dating," Nagihiko scoffed. Tadase nodded.

"Yes, but most people don't know us personally, and to be completely honest, we do look a little feminine, right?" Tadase said, a little bit grudgingly. He remembered the horrid nickname from middle school, "Tadagay," and hoped things wouldn't escalate to that point again. Why was he always on the receiving end of gay jokes?

"I guess you're right…" Nagihiko muttered. Tadase did have a point; because he had been raised as a girl he did have some rather flamboyant traits, and in everyone's minds flamboyant equated to gay.

"I wouldn't worry about it too much; eventually it will die down. It always does," Tadase assured Nagihiko with a smile. Nagihiko didn't look completely convinced.

"Well, I hope you're right. I definitely don't want to deal with this right now."

Nagihiko might have thought that this was putting more stress on him, but Tadase knew otherwise. Even though Nagihiko wouldn't see it that way, he knew that the ridiculous rumors were actually helping him take his mind off of what had just happened. Nagihiko hadn't even glanced over at Rima since he had sat down, which was definitely a good sign. Maybe these stupid rumors would help him move on more quickly.

No, because by this time tomorrow the rumors would surely involve her as well. But somehow, Tadase was sure that Rima would not end up as the victim. Maybe this fact would comfort Nagihiko, but if he still had the feelings that he had when this relationship had started he surely wouldn't. If some part of him still loved Rima, this would make him even more upset. Tadase just hoped this part was severely outweighed by the part of him that was fed up with her. He didn't care how it happened, but Nagihiko just needed to feel better.

And if Rima didn't love him, he didn't need to love her.

_After all, Tadase was all too familiar with how unrequited love worked_

Rima didn't understand how things could have possibly gone so wrong. Just as she began to feel like falling in love wouldn't be completely horribly, she had been hurt, just as she always feared. Nagihiko had hurt her, he had violently stabbed her in the back.

But no, that wasn't exactly right. Perhaps she had hurt him first. Maybe she had been hurting him this whole time. Maybe she was the one who stabbed him in the back.

It was strange seeing Nagihiko this upset. He had never had such violent emotions since they met; he had always tried to remain calm and positive, and even when he was upset he worked hard to make it seem like he was fine. But now he had no self restraint; it seemed like every thought that passed his mind was carried out.

Perhaps this was what love did to someone; perhaps it made them completely loose their mind.

Well, she kind of did feel like she was loosing her mind. Even though she highly doubted that the rumors were true, every time someone mentioned how much Tadase loved Nagihiko, or vice versa, she was filled with rage. She discretely looked back over her shoulder to where Nagihiko and Tadase were sitting together, the latter desperately trying to comfort the very upset looking indigo-haired boy. They weren't sitting all that close to each other, but Tadase did reach up to pat the other's shoulder as Nagihiko sighed, his head resting on his hand. Even though this was a simple interaction, one that friends did all the time, she couldn't help but feel angry about it.

For a second, a horrible thought struck her: what if the rumors were true?

It didn't matter, because she was starting to feel as though maybe she didn't love Nagihiko anymore. Just because her heart was thudding painfully didn't mean she had feelings for him. He had hit her! She couldn't possibly love him after that!

Besides, Nagihiko always did seem to fit being a gay better than being straight.

Rima didn't care. Nagihiko could run along and let Tadase do him in the ass as much as he wanted. He always was pretty much timid when it came to sex, Rima thought with a small smile, and the position of bottom would fit him.

Oh, but perhaps now she wasn't the only one who knew that about him. If the rumors were true, Tadase would now know Nagihiko held this characteristic. For some reason, this made the slight smile she wore drop and a cold feeling rise in her chest. Were Tadase and Nagihiko really a couple, and did they really do the deed? No, it couldn't be true….

Or maybe Rima just didn't want it to be true. Maybe she just didn't want Tadase to be in the position of holding Nagihiko, and being the object of his love.

If she thought about it, there was a possibility the rumor could be true.

No, she didn't care. She wasn't really in love with Nagihiko; she was just overreacting after what Utau said to her. There was no way she was in love with a fag, a fag who would hit her nonetheless.

And she would keep telling herself this, even as she dropped her head into the arms folding across the top of the desk, tears falling from her eyes. She wasn't crying about Nagihiko of course. No, of course not.

_As long as necessary, she would lie to everyone, including herself_

The rest of the day passed incredibly slowly, as though every minute lasted an hour, and as soon as class was over Rima bolted from the room. Amu seemed like she wanted greatly to know what was going on, but Nagihiko left quickly after her and Tadase refused to discuss it without Nagihiko's permission.

Whatever she was expecting, it wasn't what happened the next day.

The thing about high school is that rumors spread fast, as shown with the whole "Tadase and Nagihiko are gay lovers" thing. So even though as the day drew to an end Rima wasn't involved in the wild rumors at all, she was at the forefront of them the next day.

When the blonde stepped into the school the next morning everyone's voices dropped, as though they were attempting to hide their words from Rima's ears.

Rima walked straight ahead, trying to block out the smirks and leering eyes, the words ringing in her ears, "…she and Fujisaki-kun…" "…gave him gonorrhea…" "…messed with his head…" "…cheated on him with Kirshima-kun…."

Rima, clenching her fists, dropped her head and walked forwards quickly, desperate to get to her classroom and out of the other's judging eyes.

Maybe it was true; maybe she had messed with Nagihiko's head. But cheated on him with Fuyuki? She hadn't done anything like that! They weren't even in a relationship!

Rima's eyes widened briefly and she stopped for a second. Oh, but that was how she felt, wasn't it? She didn't want him to be with Tadase, even though they were never together, right? Imagine what it would have been like it the tables were turned and Nagihiko had slept with Tadase during the same time.

Rima had hurt him, hadn't she?

It didn't matter. Rima didn't care if she hurt him. He hurt her, so it didn't matter if she hurt him. Who cared about him? Who cared if the rumors were being spread about her again? Who cared if she would once again be branded an outcast? It didn't matter.

Rima would just block it all out, just like she blocked out her parents fighting and all the girls hating her in sixth grade. She just wouldn't think of it.

She walked into the classroom, desperate to get away from all the voices mocking her. But as all heads turned to look at her, she knew she wouldn't be free from it yet. All she could do was put on her strong facade, and pretend that she didn't care about any of it.

"Rima!" Amu exclaimed, as the short blonde approached her to sit down, "What's going on? I feel so out of the loop!"

"Ask Nagihiko," Rima muttered, dropping her bag on the floor and sitting down in her seat, "I don't want to talk about it."

"But he said the same thing! He told me to ask you!" Amu complained, looking incredibly dejected. Rima sighed.

"Then ask Tadase, because apparently Nagihiko tells him everything now."

"Alright then…" Amu muttered, not looking entirely convinced. She glanced back to where Nagihiko and Tadase sat and frowned slightly, before turning back to Rima. "No matter what, you two are still my best friends, you know."

"Wait until you hear what happened to say that," Rima muttered, not entirely convinced on what Amu's loyalties will end up like after she hears everything. After all, Rima was pretty sure if she was looking in on this she would side with Nagihiko as well.

_She'd always thought this… _

_all along she'd known she was doing him wrong…_

The door to the classroom opened half an hour after class started, and everyone was surprised to see Fuyuki standing there with tear-filled eyes. It was obvious that he was trying to restrain them, but not getting anywhere with his efforts.

"Fuck," Rima muttered under her breath, having forgotten that Fuyuki had been involved with everything as well, and had conveniently not heard anything the day before. The universe just loved making things difficult for her, didn't it?

...No, this had simply been her own fault.

"Sorry I'm late," Fuyuki muttered quietly, as he turned to walk to his seat. Nobody in the room could move, and instead everyone's eyes were simply locked on either Fuyuki or Rima.

Fuyuki froze for a second, staring first at Rima and then at Nagihiko. After a moment, he walked towards the latter. Stopping right in front of the surprised boy who had no idea what Fuyuki was about to do, if he was going to scream at him or punch him or something else. Instead, Fuyuki just said, "I'm sorry, I had no idea."

Nagihiko, somewhat relieved that Fuyuki wasn't mad at him, shook his head. "It's not you're fault, you didn't know. It's not like Mashiro-san would have told you."

Fuyuki was silent for a long moment, before simply saying, "She's a slut."

Rima froze, her eyes wide and her heart barely beating. Nagihiko nodded and turned his gaze so he was looking Rima straight in the eyes. "Yes, she is."

Rima's chest felt cold, and she swore her heart did in fact stop beating. But she couldn't let Nagihiko see how much his words hurt, so she just rolled her eyes and turned away.

Nagihiko dropped his gaze, looking at the desk in front of him with eyes blurry from his tears. "Shame on us for falling in love with a whore."

_Somehow, Rima felt like she deserved that… _

_Although it didn't make the tears welling up in her eyes and less painful_

**A/N:** I realize classroom seating doesn't work like this in Japan, but I don't really think it matters so I'm making it like how it is in my school. Sorry if it bugs you (it actually bugs me a lot- I hadn't realized what I'd done until after I'd done it.)

Oh, and in other news, I put a soundtrack for this story on my profile it you're interested. :)

And sorry about this being so late... again... (lol I suck). I had some personal issues (again...) and then I got Persona 4 for Christmas (which is a really awesome game, just so you know) which almost literally took up every minute of every day until school started again.

But there's only one chapter left after this, and I already have most of it completed! I actually already started writing my next story as well. I'm not going to reveal what it is yet, except that it is a romance story and it is not rimahiko! Actually, for the first time, Nagihiko won't even be a main character! Any guesses? ;)

Thanks for reading! If you have a moment please review!


	9. Chapter 9

Three weeks had passed since the last time Nagihiko and Rima spoke, it you could call their argument in the hall speaking. It had also been around this long since Amu had found out the truth, and regardless of what she had said she had been treating Rima a bit distantly since then. It had also been around the same amount of time since everyone starting giving Rima harsh, judging looks and Fuyuki started to be much more quiet. Under normal circumstance, perhaps he would've been ridiculed for crying like a girl, but everyone had been pretty sympathetic about it. Especially the girls, who were now lining up to date him. Rima supposed they'd be dying to date Nagihiko too, except for the fact that they were all convinced he was dating Tadase.

Rima herself, however, was not getting any sympathy from anyone. Lately, the only one who would talk to her was Amu, and even that was strained. She had never expected for this to happen when she proposed having such a relationship with Nagihiko. All she had wanted to do was make him feel better, and somehow all of this had happened….

Tadase and Nagihiko had been as close as ever, constantly denying the rumors but not really caring as the girls went off on their wild rants, or more accurately titled, fantasies.

Rima had also been experiencing a lot of hate. Thumbtacks in her shoes (not that she ever didn't notice them) and letters of hate stuffed in her bag (not that she really cared). It probably should have been expected; Nagihiko was one of the most popular guys in he school, and Rima had obviously hurt him. It would be surprising if they _didn't_ do something like this to her.

Rima tried not to let anyone know how much everything was affecting her, but sometimes it was pretty impossible. It was very hard to hide how much her chest ached when Nagihiko looked at her with his pained eyes, as though he were questioning why she would hurt him so much.

Throughout the past three weeks, Rima was constantly arguing with herself. Although she was trying her hardest to make herself hate Nagihiko, she just couldn't. And although she would desperately say that she hated him over and over again, she just couldn't bring herself to feel that way about him.

_You can't choose who you love, after all_

Although Tadase had hoped being out of his relationship with Rima would make Nagihiko feel better, he was sadly mistaken. If anything, Nagihiko seemed even more upset.

And maybe he had forgotten somewhere, but Tadase was friends with Rima too, and right now Rima was unhappy as well. He had been so worried about helping Nagihiko, he didn't even stop to think about what Rima might be feeling. This whole time, he had let one of his friends get hurt just to help the other. And while it was true he cared more for Nagihiko, Rima still was important to him as well.

If he had been paying more attention, maybe he would have noticed it sooner. Why had it taken him so long to figure out that Rima was in love with Nagihiko?

Of course the two weren't speaking right now, but Tadase could tell her feelings by the looks she would give Nagihiko when his back was turned. Anyone could tell what a look like that meant.

And of course Nagihiko still loved Rima. No matter how much he said he hated her, or insulted her, even if he slapped her and was filled with anger at her actions, he still loved her.

But now, wasn't it a little late for them? Was Nagihiko supposed to forget everything that happened just like that? How in the world would this end up well?

Tadase would never consider himself a matchmaker by any means, and it had never been one of his goals to set up couples, but right now Nagihiko was in love with Rima and Rima was in love Nagihiko and neither one was going to try to fix things at all. Even though he didn't want to pry into others' business he wanted to help his friends, and the only way he could help them was to make them talk to each other.

So, even though it was a bit too much like Yaya for his liking, her was going to have to try to get them to talk. But unlike Yaya, who would lock them in a closet or send love letters to the both of them, he was going to have to do something much different. He was just going to talk to both of them, and convince them to talk to each other and give the other a second chance.

This was by no means going to be easy, but he could figure something out. After all, he always did.

_Well... almost always_

"What did you want to talk to me about, Tadase?" Rima asked testily, crossing her arms over her chest as she stared at the boy across from her. The two were on the roof of the school, having gone up there after Tadase had asked to speak with her.

"I'm surprised you didn't make a crack about me asking you out." Tadase said with a small chuckle. Rima frowned.

"I didn't think it would be appropriate given the recent situation."

"Oh, well that's probably right," Tadase muttered, smiling slightly as he walked over towards Rima before sitting down on the fence at the edge of the building. He patted the floor next to him and she reluctantly sat down next to him.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about? You want to yell at me like Nagihiko did? Do you want to call me a slut too?" Rima said bitterly, hugging her knees to her chest. Tadase shook his head.

"No, not at all. I want to give you some advice."

"Advice?" Rima asked, her eyebrows arcing in a skeptical way. Tadase nodded slightly.

"I know you need help right now, and lately I've forgotten that as your friend I should be helping you too," Tadase said apologetically, a slight frown on his face, "I'm going to give you advice on how you can fix things with Fujisaki-kun."

"Yeah, like that will do any good. I don't think Nagihiko will ever talk to me again," Rima scoffed, an irritated look on her face. She stretched her legs out in front of her as she leaned back against the fence. She tilted her head back as she closed her eyes, her chest rising as a small chuckle left her throat. But even though she laughed it off, there was no humor at all in her tone. It was obvious to Tadase that the prospect of it happening hurt her more than she was letting on.

"It's true that he's really mad at you right now but… I'm sure Fujisaki-kun will give you a second chance. If you tell him your true feelings, that you love him and admit you've made a few mistakes he would certainly accept your apology."

Rima opened her eyes and gave Tadase a questioning look, "Whoever said I was going to apologize?" After a moment she added, " And why do you think I love him?"

"You should; I know you want to," Tadase replied, looking Rima straight in the eyes so forcefully that she had to look away. "And it's fairly obvious you love him; I can see it in how you look at him. Its just like how he looks at you."

Rima leaned back against the fence, letting out a small sigh. "I think it's too late to apologize; I've made too many mistakes by this point that I can't fix them all."

"No, that's not true. Nagihiko will forgive you," Tadase said certainly, because he knew it was true, or at least it would be if Rima told him how she really felt. This whole time Rima had been lying about her true intentions, well, at least for a little while she had been. Now that she realized she was in love, things could work out for them.

"How can you be so sure?" Rima asked, obviously not thinking there was any way for him to forgive her. "I mean, look at what I did to him! I rejected him, and then entered a relationship built solely on sex! More than that, I slept with Fuyuki as well and gave Nagihiko gonorrhea!"

"Ah, but you're forgetting the most important thing," Tadase said with a small smile and a shake of his head.

Rima raised her eyebrows. "And what's that?"

"Nagihiko loves you."

Rima couldn't think of what to say. How could he still love her after everything she put him through? Hell, she was even starting to hate herself.

"I'll try to convince him to talk to you, but if he does you need to tell him the truth… _all_ of the truth, alright?" Tadase gave Rima a look that clearly meant that he meant what he said. He wanted her to tell him her feelings completely, even that she loved him.

Rima wasn't sure if she would be able to do it, but she nodded. She would be able to think things through, and could decide how much she would say when the time came.

_She just didn't want to get hurt again_

Nagihiko felt that he had been doing well in his efforts of forgetting everything that had happened. He was moving on without Rima just fine, and even though he'd get upset when someone talked about love or relationships he was fine for the most part.

Well, sort of.

… Okay, not really.

Needless to say, he had been acting odd. He was more reserved than he used to be, and a bit more restrained as well. He was rather ashamed of his outburst in the hall, and had been doing his best to not create another scene like it.

Part of him also wondered how Rima was taking all of this. If she was more upset than she seemed, or if she really didn't care as much as she acted like she didn't care. Nagihiko knew Rima was skilled at putting on an act, pretending that nothing mattered. Maybe she didn't care at all about what she did to Nagihiko, but maybe she cared about what everyone was saying about her.

But that was besides the point. He was no longer interested in dating Rima. He didn't have to put up with her selfishness and promiscuity any longer.

Or, at least he thought he was done with her. But then, all of a sudden, his plans were completely changed.

At first he didn't know that Tadase was scheming anything. He did figure it out pretty quickly, though, considering the blond was fairly bad at keeping secrets. Nagihiko didn't know what Tadase was planning, but he did know that it probably involved him and Rima (because Tadase barely meddled in the affairs of other people, but he had been oddly involved with this whole situation).

But when Tadase asked to speak with alone during the lunch break, he had no idea what was up. Of course some incredibly small part of him that was not to be listened to at all supposed maybe he was confessing (Tadase, after all, didn't seem the mind the rumors at all). Although Nagihiko was not gay and definitely not interested in pursuing a romantic (or sexual) relationship with him, or any male for that matter, he felt like if such a thing started between them Rima would be awfully peeved, or at least judging on how she acted earlier. Maybe if the two pretended to be going out it would make Rima think about things a little bit….

Nagihiko voiced his thoughts to Tadase before the blond could say what he wanted, and was met with a very dumbstruck look. For a second Tadase just stared at him, before he shook his head and gave him a particularly annoyed look.

"I'm sorry, but you've lost it. What in the world would that accomplish?" Tadase didn't wait for an answer. "No, I am not pretending to date you just to get back at Mashiro-san."

Nagihiko sighed, a slightly disappointed look on his face. "Well, I just figured it would bother her. She seemed really upset about the rumors the day this started."

"Why are you still obsessing about this?" Tadase asked, leaning back in his chair as he stared straight at Nagihiko. "I thought you didn't care about Mashiro-san anymore?"

"I..." Nagihiko couldn't answer. If he was really trying to forget Rima, he shouldn't be thinking about her at all, right? Even if he said he wanted to make her feel how he felt, that would just mean he still cared about her enough to try to make her feel something. He shouldn't be trying to make her feel bad, because he didn't care at all about her anymore.

"You're still in love with her," Tadase answered for his friend. Nagihiko however, did not like this answer. As much as he may have felt that way, he was not going to admit to himself that he still loved Rima.

"No, I am not in love with her," Nagihiko said stubbornly, his voice calm and steady. Tadase gave him a skeptical look as a girl in the front of the classroom laughed loudly. He glanced at the front of the room, before turning back to Nagihiko.

"What do you take me for? I know you well enough to tell that's a lie," Tadase muttered, pausing to think for a moment before speaking again, "Are you trying to convince yourself that's how you really feel?"

"It's how I feel," Nagihiko replied, trying to sound as though he were certain of it but finding that his voice was wavering too much for it to seem that way. "I don't like her at all anymore."

"You know that's a lie," Tadase insisted.

Nagihiko didn't reply for a very long moment, in which Tadase wondered if he had finally gotten through to him. The door to the classroom slid open during this pause in conversation and none other than Rima and Amu walked in.

Rima glanced towards the back of the room before quickly turning away, not wanting Nagihiko to catch her looking. Nagihiko stared at her, and maybe in that moment he noticed that Rima _did_ look sad. Maybe he noticed that she was unhappy with the way things were.

But life never goes easily, and complications always ensue.

Two of the girls from the front of the room were quickly approaching the two boys, looking bashful but yet giggling with excitement. Both boys were very confused until one of the girls started speaking.

"I'm sorry, you're probably really annoyed with everyone talking about this all the time but we just wanted to say that you two really do make a perfect couple!"

Tadase's face blanked. Annoyed did not even begin to describe how fed up with all these untrue rumors he was. "We're not a coup-"

"Thank you," Nagihiko cut in brightly, grinning up at the two girls. "That's really sweet of you to say."

The two girls began giggling once more, as Tadase shot Nagihiko a very sour look. "Fujisaki-kun, I'm afraid you're giving people the wrong idea here."

Nagihiko smiled at Tadase. "No, I don't believe I was."

Tadase saw Nagihiko's eyes dart over his shoulder, and the blond turned slightly to see what Nagihiko was looking at. He saw Rima.

It suddenly all made sense; Nagihiko was just trying to piss Rima off again. Tadase was very mad suddenly; he had told Nagihiko he didn't want to pretend to date him, especially not just so he could upset Rima. This was seriously getting out of hand! Maybe it would be better for him to get Yaya involved after all...

Tadase fumed, trying to keep a straight face but finding it difficult, "I really don't think-"

"Um, I know this is really personal but..." the other girl cut Tadase off, shuffling her foot as she stared at the floor, "Would it be alright if I asked you two to kiss?"

Tadase could hear a loud snap as someone broke a pencil in half, and he didn't have to see it happen to know who it was.

Tadase shook his head fiercely, his eyes wide. "No! That's way out of line and-"

"Oh don't be a stick in the mud, Hotori-kun. It'll be fine," Nagihiko said brightly, smiling at the blond. Tadase's mouth dropped open. Never mind before, now _this_ was getting out of hand!

"No, I'd really prefer if we didn't kiss!" Tadase exclaimed. Not only would this complicate things, but he was also sure that Rima would kill him if Nagihiko went through with this. Actually, he was pretty sure there was a chance that it might happen anyway and nothing had happened yet.

"It's not a big deal," Nagihiko replied smoothly, and even though it appeared to the others he was looking at Tadase the blond could tell that he was actually staring at Rima. "It's just a little kiss."

"Seriously I don't-"

Apparently it was the day of ignoring and interrupting Tadase though, because Nagihiko didn't wait for him to finish and reached out and grabbed the side of his head. As Tadase's eyes widened drastically Nagihiko leaned forward, his face getting closer and closer to his best friend's. Tadase could feel Nagihiko breath on his mouth, and a horrible feeling filled his stomach. This was not good, he was going to throw up. There was no way he was going to let this happen.

Nagihiko brown eyes bore into Rima's golden ones before he closed his own and closed the space between him and Tadase.

Tadase could feel a light pressure on his lips.

No.

No!

Rima's couldn't move. Her body was frozen in place. Her hands clenched into fists, shaking violently as she struggled to contain it. Her chest hurt, she could feel a warmth building beneath her eyelids. No, this was not happening. She was not loosing Nagihiko now. Why had Tadase told her to confess to Nagihiko if he was going to do this? How could she have dared to get her hopes up?

Nagihiko's lips touched Tadase's for approximately one second, probably not even that, but even for only one second Tadase couldn't handle it. Such violent emotions had sparked in his chest during this measly one second that he couldn't handle it any longer.

He moved quickly and aggressively, his open palms meeting Nagihiko chest. "Stop acting like an idiot! What in the hell will this accomplish?"

Nobody spoke throughout the whole room, staring at either Tadase or Nagihiko in shock. Everyone except for Rima, that is, who was struggling to hold in her tears and was staring at her feet.

Tadase sighed, breathing deeply as he tried to calm himself down. He knew why Nagihiko had done what he did, and he honestly wasn't really mad because of the fact that Nagihiko had kissed him. Nagihiko was his best friend, and he didn't really care if the rumors got worse because of what happened. He didn't care if he was branded gay, and while he definitely wasn't gay he wasn't exactly revolted by the idea of homosexuality; it just wasn't for him.

No, he was mad because of how stupid Nagihiko had been to kiss him, and for the reasons which he did.

"Come and talk with me in the hall," Tadase said, not giving Nagihiko a choice as he stood up and began to walk from the room. Nagihiko followed after him, deliberately not looking Rima's way. The two walked down the hallway in silence before finding a nearly deserted are.

"Look," Tadase muttered, leaning closer to Nagihiko so that any possible onlookers could not hear what he was saying, "I know why you did that, but you seriously need to stop with this crap; it's getting ridiculous! And now you haven't just hurt Mashiro-san, but you may have hurt me as well. Did you ever think of that? Did you ever think that your actions might be causing me problems?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't even think of that... I apologize for all the rumors I've started and fueled," Nagihiko muttered abashedly. Tadase shook his head.

"Oh, well I don't really care. But imagine if you had put Souma-kun through something like this; do you think he'd be so accepting?"

Nagihiko thought about it for a moment before speaking. "Probably not."

Tadase nodded. "Exactly. If I wasn't more understanding, you could have lost your best friend because of all of this."

Nagihiko definitely had not thought about it that way. All that had occupied his mind was Rima and how to get back at Rima and how to make Rima feel as hurt as he had been.

Well, and then there was the part of him that wanted her to be so jealous she begged him for a second chance.

"Look, I'm not going to pretend like I know exactly what you're going through. I have been in love before though, contrary to your belief. I know sometimes love hurts, but that doesn't mean you just give up on it when you go through a rough spot. You have to talk about your problems. How do you expect the other person to know what you're thinking if you won't say it? You never talked about anything with her, so why did you think she would know how you felt about this? You still won't talk to her about any of this, after everything. You're still running away from her, afraid of confrontation."

"I know you were in love before, but that was when you were in sixth grade! Things are a lot different than how they were then; this isn't some petty childish emotion. I really, truly loved her. You can't understand how much every word of rejection hurt me! I can't go through that again!"

Tadase stared intently at Nagihiko, almost disbelievingly, for a long moment before turning away. Letting out a deep sigh, Tadase spoke slowly. "I guess it's time for me to be honest with you, isn't it?"

"What? Honest about what?" Nagihiko was incredibly confused. What had brought this on?

Tadase chuckled lowly for a moment, before turning back to his friend. He gave him a small smile before speaking. "About my first love."

"You mean Amu-chan?" Nagihiko asked, knowing that this was the obvious answer. Tadase shook his head.

"Do you recall a few weeks ago when I said that I didn't still have romantic feelings for my first love?"

"Um..." Nagihiko thought about it for a long moment, his mind tumbling through many memories trying to find the right one. After a moment, he remembered their conversation at the mall that first day. "Oh, yeah. I remember. What, you were lying about that?"

"No, I didn't exactly lie about anything. I just led you to believe that my first love had been Amu-chan, when in actuality she wasn't the first person I loved."

"What?" Nagihiko asked, his eyes wide. Tadase had loved someone else, before Amu? But they had been friends for all these years, since kindergarten, and he had never even uttered a word about it! More than that, there had never even been any indication that Tadase held such feelings for anyone. "But I've been with you since the beginning and you never said anything about it!"

"Well actually, remember how when we were in kindergarten you hadn't told me your secret yet and to me, as well as everyone else, you were a girl?" Nagihiko noted that Tadase refused to meet his eyes at this point and wondered what that meant. And also, what did what Tadase was saying have anything to do with anything? Really, it wasn't relevant at all!

Wait... he didn't mean...

"_I_ was your first love?!" Nagihiko asked, his eyes wide in shock.

Tadase nodded and spoke quickly, frantic to clear things up before Nagihiko got the wrong idea. "I'm not trying to imply anything! I stopped feeling like that when I found out your true gender! You've been nothing but a friend to me since the time I found out!"

Nagihiko was incredibly relieved, but still a little bit confused. Why was Tadase suddenly telling him all of this? He asked him, and Tadase smiled weakly.

"When I said my first love didn't last, I wasn't lying. But if you were talking about Amu-chan, I couldn't say the same thing."

It took Nagihiko a moment to process what Tadase said, but when he did it hit him straight in the face. What Tadase was saying...

"You really... after all this time?"

Tadase nodded, a sad look on his face. "I haven't stopped loving her since the sixth grade."

It took a moment for the full force of what Tadase was saying to sink in. Tadase had never stopped being in love with Amu, contrary to what he had told everyone else. He had watched the girl he loved be pried from his grasps by someone he viewed as a brother, and he was stuck watching helplessly as it happened. He was forced to acknowledge the loss he had faced everyday, he had to face the mistakes he made every time he went to school or hung out with his friends. And, worst of all, he had to pretend like he had never been hurt. He had to force himself to try to forget his feelings for Amu, to simply be her friend and never let himself hope to be anything else.

"Everyday I'm forced to face my pain, but yet I'm unable to do anything about it, because no matter what happens I know Amu-chan really does love Ikuto and Ikuto really does love Amu-chan. The two people I care the most for are happy, and what can I do about it now that won't cause either of them pain? It's much too late for me to try to do anything. I can never be with the person I love, no matter how desperately I try."

"I never knew..." Nagihiko muttered, giving Tadase a sympathetic look. Tadase shook his head, a sad smile faintly visible on his lips.

"That was my intention."

Tadase was quiet for a moment before he spoke once more, and this time Nagihiko could tell he was thinking out his words very carefully.

"What I'm trying to tell you with all of this is that... sometimes the person you think you love _is_ really the person that you do. At first I was reluctant about the thought that you and Mashiro-san were really meant to be, but after everything that's happened I kind of think you two _are_meant for each other."

"I doubt that," Nagihiko murmured, trying to laugh but finding himself unable.

"No, I'm actually fairly certain that you two are meant to be together. You are what she needs."

"What she needs?"

"Ah, well, when you love someone, you want what's best for them, right?"

Nagihiko nodded. "That's what I've always believed."

"Well, on that line of thought, sometimes people don't know what's right for themselves, and someone else must force it upon them." Tadase replied softly, looking straight into Nagihiko's eyes.

"I don't understand," Nagihiko's voice came out so quietly Tadase could barely hear it. Given his tone, he knew Nagihiko understood completely, but he was going to say it anyway.

"Mashiro-san is in a lot of pain, and she has been for a long time. She's probably been hurting since her parent's started fighting, maybe even before that. Although she doesn't act like it, inside she's just like a scared little child. What she needs right now is someone who loves her for who she is and can help her overcome her demons." Tadase stopped, and Nagihiko knew what his next words were going to be before the blond utttered them. He stood there in silence, not knowing how to respond as Tadase told him something he wasn't sure if he could stand to hear. Acknowledging it would just make him feel guilty, wouldn't it? It would make him realize he had acted like a child, that he was in the wrong as well.

But somehow, he knew that it was true and was going to force himself to accept it.

Tadase continued one last time as Nagihiko pondered his words, "I can no longer fight for my love, but you haven't reached that point yet. You still can get it back if you try hard enough."

Tadase left him at this point, and Nagihiko was left to ponder everything that had been said.

He was very thankful for Tadase at this moment, and was going to have to thank him a thousand times over but it still wouldn't be enough to make up for everything he had done. The words Tadase had said to him echoed in his ears, bounced back and forth throughout his brain. And they were true.

He was childish. He was stupid. He was stubborn. Rima had treated him badly, and he had treated Rima badly. But suddenly, it didn't matter what she had done. He shouldn't have acted like he had. Hitting a girl was never the right thing to do, and neither was doing cruel things just to spite her. There was no way Rima had slept with Fuyuki just to hurt him, and maybe he was a little vain to think that that could have been her reasoning.

But yet, it didn't seem like she didn't care for him either. Would she have agreed to such a relationship if she truly hated him? Would she be so upset at the idea of him dating someone else? Would she cry at his words if he truly meant nothing to her.

Maybe she hated him, maybe she didn't. It didn't matter anymore; Nagihiko had spent all of his time whining like a baby about everything. He was too scared of rejection to even talk to her, and had let all his worries and doubts build up inside of him until they were too much to hold. There was one simple way to fix all of this: to talk to her.

And Tadase's words filled Nagihiko's mind once more, and he truly knew them to be true.

There was only one thing Rima needed.

_Rima needed him_

"Hey, thanks for everything."

"Oh, no problem."

"I actually have some advice for you as well."

"Really? What is it?"

"Well, I learned it's not good to keep things bottled up. Eventually it becomes to much to hold in."

"Okay...?"

"And in my opinion, your cause isn't as impossible as you think it is."

_There's always a reason for our love, after all..._

_sometimes we just don't recognize it_

"So you think everything's going to be fixed today? Why do you think that?" Amu inquired after school, sitting on the desk and swinging her feet back and forth. She leaned forward curiously, and Tadase just smiled at her.

"Yeah, I'm positive of it," he answered certainly. "I just know."

"I'm glad! It's been driving me crazy to see them like this!" She exclaimed happily, a small laugh leaving her mouth. She was so earnestly happy for her friends that it made Tadase happy as well. Her happiness seemed to be contagious; no one could frown while she was laughing.

It was simply one of the many things he loved about her.

"Yeah, I could tell you were really unhappy with how in the dark you were about everything."

"It sucked! I'm just surprised you figured it out and I didn't notice a thing for the longest time! You're pretty smart!"

"Thanks." Tadase couldn't help but feel his heart pound a little at her words, a feeling he felt often around Amu but could never take any permanent joy from. She was always so nice to him, no matter what happened. And even though she didn't feel for him what he felt for him he knew she did love him. Just in a different way.

"Do you want to grab something to eat on the way home?" Amu asked as she picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder, prepared to head home. It sounded like a pretty good idea to Tadase, but the advice Nagihiko had given him earlier lingered in his head.

Tadase smiled as he began walking forward, following after Amu. "That sound great. Besides, I have something important that I want to tell you."

"Really? What? Is it about Nagi and Rima?" Amu asked curiously, stopping briefly to look at him. Tadase shook his head.

"No, it's about me."

And for some reason, Tadase didn't even feel nervous, and he knew he wasn't making a mistake. Maybe finally, after all this time, telling Amu the truth would make him accept the fact that they were never going to end up together. Or maybe it would give him just what he hoped for.

But, as Amu hooked her arm with Tadase's in the usual, friendly way she did with everyone else, maybe he didn't even care. He knew, whatever happened, he would be okay.

_Because even if it hurt, love was the best thing someone could have_

The silence throughout the room was so thick that Nagihiko thought if he still had his naginata he could cut it with the weapon. Well, of course that wasn't actually plausible but it sort of seemed possible in this situation.

It was ironic, he supposed, that they were having this discussion in the same classroom he had confessed to her in several weeks earlier. But maybe it was good. Maybe he could simply view this as a new start.

Between that point and now the snow had all melted, and the cherry blossom trees were now in full bloom. It had a sort of melancholic feeling to it, the changes that had undergone both the outside world and the two of them during this time. But somehow, Nagihiko knew it was for the better.

Nagihiko knew there were a thousand things that he should say to Rima. He should apologize, first and foremost, but that wouldn't be enough. He also had to tell her how he felt about everything that had happened, how she made him felt, and why he had reacted so violently. He needed to tell her that he was there for her no matter what happened, and that even though he was hurt he still loved her. He needed to receive an apology himself, and somehow he knew that he would someday get one.

But just not today.

Because Nagihiko and Rima had all the time in the world, and none of this serious stuff had to be dealt with today. Instead of all the words that desperately needed to be said, and would be in time, Nagihiko said something that he had wanted to say for several years.

"Why don't we go look at the cherry blossom trees together?"

And Rima seemed to understand he wasn't pushing everything away forever, but simply temporarily. She knew they would have to talk about them, what she had done with Fuyuki, the kiss he had shared with Tadase, and every word that had been left unsaid, but she didn't really mind. Because now she knew what her "lust" for Nagihiko really was, and what Nagihiko's feelings for her were.

And really, was it all that hard to apologize and admit you're wrong when it earns you something so very precious?

Rima smiled, the first real smile that had appeared on her face for a very long time.

"I'd like that."

Rima wondered why Nagihiko would stay with her after everything she put him through, and she wondered why she was giving him a chance after what he did to her. Her parents had fought all the time, and neither had ever given the other a second chance, but maybe that was the problem. Had they forgotten how much they meant to the other, had they gotten caught up in all the petty arguments and useless vanity that neither could forgive the other or apologize for their mistakes?

Rima had always been afraid that Nagihiko would hurt her, and leave her like her father had left her mother, but she now knew she was wrong. Well, he had hurt her, but he wasn't running away, he wasn't acting like he had done nothing wrong. And, even after everything, he hadn't left her.

He loved her more than her dad loved her mom.

"And you have to take me for a parfait, Na-de-shi-ko."

Nagihiko stared at her for a moment before Rima laughed. And before he knew it, he was laughing too. After all these years she still had the same old jokes.

But, she hadn't forgotten, and neither had he.

_And even if he tried, he never could forget_

Love was funny, Rima thought. Some people gave it up for selfish vanity, while some would struggle for it but find themselves unable to obtain it.

Love hurt, but anyone who felt it would never give it up, even the pain of it all, for anything else. The feeling of loving someone so much that sometimes your chest just ached and you had to cry was better than being empty. Maybe life would be easier if you didn't experience love, but it would surely be a hell of a lot more boring.

Rima thought her parents were incredibly stupid to give up such a great thing just because neither one wanted to apologize. She would apologize a thousand times just to see Nagihiko smile at her, and feel his arms wrap around her body.

Really, all she had wanted was love all along.

And she wouldn't give it up for all the money in the world.

_The End_

"Oh my god, Utau! They kissed and I missed it!"

"What are you still freaking out about this for?"

"DUDE! Nagi and Tadase kissed! How are you not freaking out?"

"Seriously Kukai, you need to calm down right now or-"

"They're meant to be, Utau! It's their destiny to get together and I missed their first kiss!"

"First and _last _kiss..."

"NO! Don't you dare say that! Utau, I swear to god never say that again! Do you know how much it would hurt if I missed their _only_ kiss?"

"Calm down; are you like a closet Fujoshi or something?"

"Shut up Utau! I'm not a rotten woman! Their love is just so great it transcends the gender barrier and-"

"What the fuck? You've been reading Amu's yaoi, haven't you?"

"They fucking kissed and I missed it. I MISSED IT! There's no reason for me to live anymore, just leave me here to die!"

"What the-?"

"I feel like I'm drowning in a sea of my feelings!"

"Seriously, I'm getting scared. Stop flailing like that! And what in the world does that even mean?"

"I just have a lot of feelings!"

"Are you _cryin__g_?"

-sniff- "Nagase forever! Their love is legendary! Why does fate ruin such beautiful things?" -sobs-

"... Fuck my life."

**A/N:** Haha, surprise ending. XD And it's up to you to decide what goes down between Amu and Tadase; Rimahiko gets all their shit figured out and ends up together, though. (Sorry Kukai, your otp has been destroyed.)

Thanks for making it to the end of this god awful story. I got writer's block every time I sat down to write EVERY chapter. I am not even exaggerating. But I loaded up on sugar today and was so hyper I somehow managed to finish this. (With over 6k words, sorry).

I should be posting a new story soon, and it will be Takuto. But, rimahiko will have a small role in it. :)

I'd appreciate reviews a lot~ You have no idea how much they make my day; even if they're like one line or even one word they put me in such a good mood. Thanks again for reading; even if you never reviewed I really appreciate it (I especially appreciate it if you reviewed, lol).


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